I was born and raised in New York. My parents are from Pakistan.

I can only recall visiting twice in my life. The strong South Asian identity I have is through family, food, and culture. Much of the South Asian content I consume is hardly specifically Pakistani. This only started to bother me when seeing how more recent South Asian films have posited Pakistan as a two-dimensional terrorist state. Growing up in the United States, I’ve heard this perspective many times. What I don’t understand is how neighboring countries can overlook people who are so similar to them and disregard the viewership of its people and its diaspora.

By being deemed othered through this trend of anti-Pakistan, I’ve been led on a path to find a more nuanced cultural depiction of my heritage. Stories that may have critical thoughts on the state of affairs in Pakistan, but do not outright malign an entire people. Stories that do not propagate ideologies, but celebrate human experiences. Surely, it is impossible not to get political in the personal. Pakistan is a complex society with governance and people who, at times, hold difficult to understand perspectives. (Does this affect the dearth of Pakistani cinema?)

Whatever Pakistan is, it is the place where my and my sibling’s parents are from. Where my cousins’ parents are from. Where our grandparents are from. My thoughts on what Pakistan is and the learnings of its land’s stories brings me closer to my family. Annals of the history that defines us are in that place, within those borders. Sitting in the United States, I ask my parents and family members born in Pakistan about the stories of our ancestors. On my own, I read books and articles online. I even spent a masters degree to analyze how Pakistan’s government works. I desire more research into its media and it’s a shame how I feel like I have to read more books to do so.

Talking about Pakistan as a defined nation has made me wonder what it means to distinguish myself as South Asian via Pakistan. For one, the amount of creative media is missing to an almost unparalleled degree compared to other South Asian countries. Viewing Pakistan as a marginality may beg unbridled nationalism and an aim to uncover doubtless gems it may have over the creative media elsewhere. A more leveled approach in the quest for media is closer to the pulse of creative voices. Borders were set to create Pakistan. Mistakes were made to it and by it, some that are still not apologized for. These borders, deftly and peevishly created with a “divide and conquer” mindset by the British Raj as they packed their bags, created further divides in culture. (Splitting Punjab and disregarding the true needs for an independent Bangladesh made a mockery of the search for Muslim rights.)

Far away in the United States, the divides created by artificial striations don’t seem significant enough to break bonds. The politics still matter, but the feeling of security and belonging I feel with South Asians in the diaspora can’t be compromised because of them. When a difference is pointed out, there’s an uncomfortable realization that there is a politic to address. It’s often approached with care. For me, life as a person of color in the United States informs the way I operate in the world and form associations more than those molded by my ancestors in a land I did not grow up in. I find it hard to see true differences in South Asian cultures, but I can definitely see how power by one area affecting another area gives (or ought to give) the other a feeling of exclusion to nurture.

But what these borders undeniably have done is shape how those cultures can freely communicate beyond itself. Pakistan’s tough grasp for economic security has come at the expense of its infrastructure. As per the appropriate strategy, and therefore the rhetoric, for developing a secure society, attempts are to be made that there is clean water, accessible roads, and regular electricity. Without those, a country may struggle to provide widespread, effective resources like health care and education. Tenacity of the human spirit to receive respect by organizing has made it possible to demand legislation acknowledging basic human rights. But still, elements in advocacy seem to come next to last when the country lives on debt it is expected to pay. It can be debated if equality comes before or after storytelling.

When it comes to cinematic storytelling, certainly. A medium which requires people to stay hydrated and fed throughout the day, travel to far off locations to begin collaboration and production, electricity to power the equipment to produce and distribute the product, and human rights like free speech, cinema is hard for Pakistan to justify supporting. (There is only so much the independent sector can do to support the arts.) One thing that makes Pakistan notorious in the news is its debt to the IMF, foreign countries, and other international entities. Pakistan spends quite a bit of its time showing what it is doing to explain what its funds were used for and what the timeline is for paying it back. Telling countries that funds for clean water are going into cinema is not a good look.

Clean water before movies? Yes, that is a good decision. This is one framework to decipher where Pakistani cinema is, but there is undoubtedly more to the story. If there were more stories emerging from the country’s general population, other theories may arise. It just stands that the media that Pakistan puts out to the diaspora is usually a news item like so. A simple act of loosening censorship could bolster Pakistani cinema and make it a viable industry to support its economy. Simply telling the world how it defines itself through a creative lens could inspire empathy.

But I’m convinced that Pakistani cinema needs more garters than reduced censorship. Pakistan needs to see itself for what it truly is. There are a lot of lives that are defined by the land or the idea of Pakistan. From the ethnic minorities to muhajirs, Biharis, refugees and migrant workers, to khwaja seras and religious minorities like Ahmedis, Christians, Hindus, among others — there are so many experiences had within the borders of Pakistan. Stories of those who are suffering within Pakistan should be heard by those living inside Pakistan and abroad. It is the responsibility of everyone to do something to help- to do something. There are many ways of spreading compassion, the most accessible is social media. Most difficult is cinema. Those who have managed the resources and have the alchemy to create magic should use their cinematic talents to show up on the world’s platform and speak.

Hearing the stories of Pakistan is important to me has felt important for defining my identity. Finding the stories that show something I am not proud of — is important for me. Deportation of Afghani refugees, demanding higher taxes from the working class, blaming women for rapes enacted before her children, and condoning violence toward people based on their religion and religious expression are not what I stand for. But electing a woman Prime Minister, producing a transgender bill of rights, and supporting Palestine are.

Cinema gives permission to see how they respond to the truth about themselves in ways an image or article can never achieve single-handedly. There should be a platform where Pakistanis can go to celebrate who they are while finding ways to also acknowledge that there are things they could do better for the people who make up who they are.

In my final semester at the University of Southern California, I spent months developing a strategy for a streaming service for Pakistanis anywhere and everywhere in the world. The goal has been to reflect on making it easier to reflect on what makes people like me beautiful and why, what we can improve and how, what wealth we have and share. Axiomatic that films of this power exist, I have not been able to find them. There may be issues in my acquisition approach. Or maybe the virtual world, as it is right now, is not in favor of someone like me connecting to their media roots. Structural blocks are already present in the lack of international distribution for most Pakistani blockbusters (many of which aim for less reflection, not more). A new adage is that technology cannot solve the world’s issues. There are bigger geopolitical quandaries than the one preventing me from connecting with my culture; some of which I know of because of social media. But after reaching out to scores of filmmakers and producers, I wonder if I am reaching for a pseudo-identity. My parents are the ones from Pakistan. They moved from Pakistan. Here, they watch Hollywood films, as they had in Pakistan. Here, they watch Bollywood films and Pakistani television shows on YouTube to connect with their culture. Of the nearly thirty years they resided here, they may have seen less than five Pakistani films in the past five years. In the United States, we are all told we are Pakistanis. Yet, the manner in understanding what that means is limited to private spaces — and YouTube. Barely.

Danial Gondal