An internationally acclaimed Pakistani film about girls’ education has hit a wall at home. The Sindh Board of Film Censors has refused to grant a censor certificate to “Ghost School,” meaning the movie cannot be screened in the very province where it was shot, director Seemab Gul told Dawn. The British-Pakistani filmmaker said she was given no explanation for the rejection, despite the film clearing both the federal censor board and authorities in Punjab without objection.
Key Highlights
- Sindh Board of Film Censors rejected “Ghost School” without stating a reason
- Film won best director award at the UK Asian Film Festival, debuted at TIFF
- Also earned an honourable mention at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
- Story follows a 10-year-old girl fighting to keep her school open
- Sindh Culture Minister says the board must have had “valid reasons”
- Director Seemab Gul self-financed the film and risks a major financial loss
A Global Success Story, Blocked at Home
“Ghost School” has had quite a run on the festival circuit. Written, directed and produced by Seemab Gul, it picked up the best director award at the UK Asian Film Festival and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was nominated for best film. From there it traveled to the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, won a special award at the Asian African Latin American Film Festival, and was honored at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles for what judges called its “exceptional social realism and restrained storytelling.”
None of that mattered to Sindh’s censor board. In a letter to Gul, the board’s secretary wrote only that “after careful examination and due deliberation, the board found the film not suitable for public exhibition,” offering no further detail.
“I have no information what the board members found objectionable in the film,” Gul said, adding that she was baffled since the story deals purely with education, not anything she considers controversial.
The Story Behind the Ban
The film, shot in Chashma Goth and a neighboring village on Karachi’s outskirts, follows 10-year-old Rabia, played by Nazualiya Arsalan, as she tries to keep attending school after it’s shut down over a rumor that the building is haunted. It’s an excuse, the film suggests, that both a teacher and a village elder use to avoid dealing with the real problem, one that Gul says is far from fictional.
“There are around 15,000 ghost schools in Sindh, it’s a critical issue,” she said, referring to institutions that exist on paper and draw funding but don’t actually function. She has appealed to the censor board to reconsider.
Dawn reached out to censor board chairman Khalid Bin Shaheen but received no response. Sindh Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, when asked to comment, described the board as an autonomous 15-member body authorized to issue film licenses, and said he believed it “would certainly have had valid reasons” for turning the film down.
For now, Gul is left in limbo. She financed the film herself and is covering its distribution out of pocket. Without a release in Karachi, the country’s largest cinema market, she stands to take a serious financial hit for telling a story that, ironically, has been celebrated everywhere except the province it was made to speak for.
