Pakistani filmmaker, Shahnawaz Zali’s documentary ‘100 Steps’ gets a Student Oscar nomination
Young Pakistani director and cinematographer Shahnawaz Zali’s documentary 100 steps – Sau Qadam has been nominated for the Best Film (in the narrative category) for the 43rd Student Academy Awards.
The film, made in 2015, revolves around a young boy who is dragged into suicide bombings.
Shahnawaz Zali is a student director, cinematographer and writer studying at the Northwestern University in Qatar.
The 23-year-old director is “My dream is to win an Oscar. It has to be on the stage, and I want to see the smile on my mother’s face at that moment. Then, I can tell my mother that I’ve finally made it” Shahnawaz shared.
“My film, 100 Steps qualified for the Student Academy Awards at the Oscars. Now I’m waiting to hear whether it gets nominated for an award. If it does, that will be my first step towards completing my dream” he exclaimed.
Sharing his excitement on social about his film’s nomination, he said:
Dreams do come true. One step closer to Oscars!! My film nominated for student oscars!https://t.co/WlQwh6619u#RevivalOfPakistaniCinema
— Shahnawaz Zali (@szali17) August 2, 2016
Explaining the idea behind his recent film, Zali said “I think my film can have both positive and negative impact, depends on how people view it. The reason why I touched on this topic is because for a nation to progress, we need to accept that there is a problem in our society. If we keep on shying away from certain topics, we’ll never be able to change and progress as a nation.”
“Pakistan has so much talent, so many skills, and so many amazing people, this is the time we actually come forward and bring a change in the society,” Zali said in an interview about what impact of the film will have the audience in Pakistan.
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, an Oscar winner congratulated young filmmaker Shahnawaz on twitter on his achievement:
Many congratulations @szali17 on your @TheAcademy student nomination! Bravo and best of luck! #Oscars
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) August 2, 2016
Shahnawaz hails from Lahore and cultivated a love of cinema in his teens. His first major film, Muhammad, is based on the story of a Syrian boy who was killed for blasphemy. The film is a re-imagined story set in Zali’s home country of Pakistan. Muhammad has been showcased in three international film festivals and earned Zali two NU-Q Student Media Awards, one for best picture and one for best cinematography.
The 23-year-old director wants to make films that make people think, and touch people emotionally because according to him:
“An article speaks 500 words, a picture speaks 1000, but I believe a film speaks a million.”
Student Academy Awards ceremony will be held on September 22, 2016.
Official trailer of Sou Qadam – 100 Steps
Complete list of nominees for the Student Academy Awards
Animation
Pengpeng Du, “Cage,” Pratt Institute
Aemilia Widodo, “Last Shot,” Ringling College of Art and Design
Alicja Jasina, “Once Upon a Line,” USC
Bob Yong and Kang Yung Ho, “The Controller,” Ringling College of Art and Design
Carter Boyce, “Die Flucht (“The Escape”), DePaul University
Hannah Roman, “The Moon is Essentially Gray,” School of Visual Arts
Echo Wu, “The Wishgranter,” Ringling College of Art and Design
Alternative
David Henry Gerson, “All These Voices,” AFI
Yvonne Ng, “Cloud Kumo,” City College of New York
Kevin Rios, “Made of Sugar,” NYU
Scott Thompson, “Nova Initia,” Art Institute of Colorado
Johnny Coffeen, “The Swan Girl,” Maharishi University of Management
Documentary
Daphne Matziaraki, “4.1 Miles,” UC Berkeley
Rongfei Guo, “Fairy Tales,” NYU
Elise Conklin, “FROM FLINT: Voices from a Poisoned City,” Michigan State University
Ceylan Carhoglu and Nicole Jordan-Webber, “Gardeners of the Forest,” Chapman University
Caroline Cuny and Bryan Campbell, “Looking for Trouble,” Wake Forest University
Max Good, “The Assassin and Mrs. Paine,” Stanford University
Melina Tupa, “The Search,” UC Berkeley
Narrative
Shahnawaz Zali, “100 Steps,” Northwestern University
Halima Lucas, “Amelia’s Closet,” USC
Williams Naranjo, “A New Civilization,” NYU
Brian Robau, “It’s Just a Gun,” Chapman University
Chloe Aktas, “Mutt,” NYU
Jimmy Keyrouz, “Nocturne in Black,” Columbia University
Brenna Malloy, “Rocket,” Chapman University
Foreign Narrative
Hajni Kis, “Beautiful Figure,” University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest (Hungary)
Judita Gamulin, “Flowers,” Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Alexander Turpin, “Generation Mars,” Norwegian Film School (Norway)
Alex Schaad, “Invention of Trust,” University of Television and Film Munich (Germany)
Ondrej Hudecek, “Peacock,” Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Czech Republic)
Klara Kochanska,”Tenants,” The Polish National Film Television and Theatre School (Poland)
Felix Ahrens, “Where the Woods End,” Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF (Germany)
Foreign Animation
Ahmad Saleh, “Ayny – My Second Eye,” Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Germany)
Steve Bache and Mahyar Goudarzi, “Eye for an Eye,” Film Academy Baden-Württemberg-(Germany)
Arisbek Nuhan, “I Come From Prairie,” Beijing Film Academy (China)
Foreign Documentary
Johannes Östergård, “Tarfala,” University of Television and Film Munich (Germany)
Maya Sarfaty, “The Most Beautiful Woman,” The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University (Israel)
Tamar Kay, “The Mute’s House,” The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School (Israel)