Auteur Cinema of Pakistan: Filmmakers' Perspective on Sociocultural Complexities of Pakistan

Abstract This study examines the complexities of the social problems of Pakistan explained by Pakistani independent filmmakers in their films. Four independent films that were produced in the past two decades by two Pakistani filmmakers, Shoaib Mansoor and Sabiha Sumar, were analyzed for their discourses. The findings show that the directors articulated the dynamics of women’s oppression and the sociopolitical climate of Pakistan by using their own distinctive approaches. The films centered mainly on a critique of Islamic fundamentalism and patriarchal culture as the main driving forces of social problems that determine women’s status in Pakistan. In the process of articulating the complexity of social problems, it was evident that Mansoor represented the problem in a cultural context by placing certain ethnic identities as the causal agents while Sumar framed the problem to be driven mainly by certain ideological forces. Furthermore, Mansoor's movies portrayed a more optimistic viewpoint, suggesting that women's rights could be advanced through current legal measures and economic changes within the country. Sumar’s films, on the other hand, were more realistic, representing the prevailing status of women in Pakistani society. Her films suggest that women’s empowerment in the existing social system and state institutions is improbabl