Zia Mohyeddin

Last Remarks

As the sun sets on the British Empire, the British rulers of the Indian subcontinent prepare to divide the region into two independent states: India and Pakistan. For the diverse native population, freedom comes at a cost and ethnic violence sweeps the region. On the eve of Pakistani independence in 1947, Arastu Jan, a troubled and isolated native servant to a British master, takes a dose of poison and finds himself with ten minutes to record the confession of his brief lifetime.

Ghazi Shaheed

The film covers a story of mysterious loss of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi. She has participated in second and third Indo-Pakistani wars (1965 and 1971) and has been sunk in December 1971 nearby Indian coast.

Doomsday Gun

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns (very large long range guns capable of shooting at ranges more than 100 miles). When an operational plan by the CIA to export sanctioned arms to apartheid-South Africa through him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released, and moved to Belgium to start a subsidiary, of which a major project was to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles.

Immaculate Conception

Alistair, a British representative for a wildlife conservation agency based in Karachi and his Jewish-American wife Hannah have been unsuccessful at conceiving a child. Over time, the desire to have a child begins to consume Hannah and she persuades a reluctant Alistair to go with her for three days to a fertility shrine. After a ceremony during which Hannah converts to Islam and coaxes Alistair to do the same, she becomes pregnant. But Hannah’s joy at the discovery of her pregnancy is overshadowed by worsening relations with Alistair who has started an affair with their friend Samira and tensions begin to mount when eunuchs from the shrine start to harass the couple.

Shalom Salaam

Two disparate families become intertwined when a Jewish man and a Muslim woman fall in love while attending college.

Partition

The tumultuous events surrounding the sub-continent's partition in 1947 into India and Pakistan are re-imagined in Ken McMullen's complex and visually striking film. A lunatic asylum in the city of Lahore becomes a mirror image of events in the outside political world, with the same actors playing both inmates and rulers. Adapted by Tariq Ali and McMullen from famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's short story 'Toba Tek Singh', Partition speaks for the countless millions that the usual British Raj films sweep out of sight. Released to mark the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, this is the film's first-ever release on DVD.

King of the Ghetto

An idealistic former soldier helps unite and house ethnic minorities in a run down area of London's east end

The Assam Garden

An insecure, aggressive widow of a tea garden manager reluctantly develops an affectionate relationship with an Indian housewife and her family.

Ashanti

Dr. Anansa Linderby is kidnapped in a medical mission in Africa by a slave trader. From this moment, her husband will do anything to recover her and to punish the bad guys, but that will be not an easy task.

Bombay Talkie

An English novelist travels to Bombay to watch one of her novels translated to film. She chases after the movie's leading man while the screenwriter chases after her.

Work Is a 4-Letter Word

Dreamlike satire about a young man who resists getting a job at the lone employing conglomerate in his dreary industrial town, but changes his mind when he discovers the plant's boiler room has the perfect climate to assist him with his pet horticultural (fungal) project.

They Came from Beyond Space

A group of scientists are possessed by an alien force when they investigate a meteor shower in a rural field.

Deadlier Than the Male

British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.

The Sailor from Gibraltar

Alan, after quarreling with his girlfriend Sheila, becomes intrigued by Anna, a mysterious widow who's searching for a sailor she had known many years before. Alan and Anna begin the search on board a yacht bound for Greece, but they don't find the sailor. After a stop in Africa, Louis de Mozambique joins the party and suggests that the sailor may never have existed other than in Anna's mind.

Khartoum

English General Charles George Gordon is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.

A Passage to India

The BBC's 1965 adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel, screened as part of their Play of the Month strand, adapted by Santha Ramu Rau and John Maynard, and directed by Waris Hussein.

Behold a Pale Horse

Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.

Sammy Going South

After he is orphaned by an air raid on Port Said during the Suez Crisis, a young boy attempts to go by himself from the Suez Canal to Durban in South Africa where his nearest relative, Aunt Jane, lives. On the way he meets a variety of different people who help or hinder his journey - including an ageing diamond smuggler.

Lawrence of Arabia

The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence's mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic figure in the cause of Arab unity but his psychological instability threatens to undermine his achievements.

The Day of the Fox

"In Jan Carew’s explosive drama, Sammy Davis Jr gives a memorable performance as a proud but disillusioned revolutionary who aims to destroy the remnants of white colonial rule in a new African nation. The political themes explored remain incredibly prescient." - BFI

Some Lover to Some Beloved

Inspired by John Gielgud, veteran Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin ('Lawrence of Arabia', 'A Passage to India') recites readings from now fading Urdu literature every year. In 2010, he makes a deviation from his thirty-year tradition and reads solely from the work of one author - legendary revolutionary Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. As contemporary Pakistan devolves into violence and instability, Zia's readings of Faiz's poetry find new resonance and leads Zia on an introspective journey into his extraordinary past and uncertain future.