Haya

GATHER Artivism Fellow, 2022

IMPACT: POLITICAL

Exposing cultural blind spots & systematic failures through filmmaking.

Haya is an Oscar and two-time Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and educator. She is constantly inspired by the poetry of resistance that has been created in Pakistan over time. Her interests lie in themes like the connection between climate change and mental health, disability, ethnic conflict, and how societies behave when people grapple with conflict daily.

She recently served as a mentor in the Seeds of Peace Kitnay Duur, Kitnay Paas Indo-Pak film initiative, and is currently directing her debut feature documentary, titled “Beyond Victory,” which follows the lives of young women who form Pakistan’s first ever blind women’s national cricket team.

Three things that bring her joy: children’s candidness, socio-political commentary done through meme culture, and getting to know people over ice cream cones.

Learn more about Haya and her work on her website.

“I am constantly thinking of the different ways this film should be used to create impact among the country’s sighted majority—that is, people who think they can see. When an ordinary Pakistani watches the film, I want them to understand that it’s not blindness that’s the problem; it’s the individual and systemic responses towards blindness that’s the problem.”