Project Detail

Echoes Underneath

Synopsis

Riaz Masih is a 51-year-old Christian sewer worker living in Lahore, Pakistan. Despite systemic discrimination and working for a pittance, he is determined, with the support of his wife Zarina, to educate their four children. After 27 years of informal labour, Riaz finally secures a job with the city sanitation department and makes the rare decision to take out life insurance.
His children show great promise. Sahil dreams of becoming a civil servant, while Mehek earns a scholarship to Punjab College. Their younger children, Rahul and Manahil, are deaf and mute and each excels in their own way. Through his school, Rahul is exposed to a more affluent world, as many of his classmates come from influential families. Sometimes labelled a bully at school and in his neighbourhood, his emotional and moral development becomes a key thread of the story.
Riaz, whose own father only completed secondary school, dreams of seeing his children graduate from university and transform the family’s future.
The documentary follows Sahil’s gap year after disappointing exam results and explores family tensions, including Mehek running away from home and leaving school. The film exposes the entrenched caste and religious privilege that marginalises Christian Dalits in Pakistan.

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Details

Year: 2028
Type of project: Features
Running time: 90 min
Format: Digital
Director: Sumair Shamsi 1st Feature
Producer: Uzair Ali
Co-Producer: Axel Haudiquet

Genre

Asian Biography Human Rights

Production Status

Pre-production

Production Company

Tusitala Films

Axel Haudiquet
Mill of Towie
Glenkindie
AB33 8SJ

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