Mehreen Jabbar
Encyclopedia
Mehreen Jabbar (b. December 29, 1971), is a noted Pakistan
i film-maker and television director/producer. Mehreen is the daughter of well known media-person and businessman Javed Jabbar
, she was born in Karachi
, Sindh
, Pakistan
.
has been a filmmaker, and a very successful ad man apart from a senator and a cabinet minister. After receiving a B.A.
from St. Joseph's College in Karachi, Mehreen went abroad to the USA in order to study film and completed a two year program at University of California Los Angeles in 1993, with a Film, Television and Video certificate, and returned to Pakistan to direct and produced drama series/serials under the banner of TasVeer Productions, almost all of which were critically acclaimed by the Pakistani press.
Jabbar directed her first play 1994, called Nivala, which was an adaptation of Ismat Chughtai
's short story. But the play never made it to the television screens, having been refused by state-run television channel PTV
on the grounds that it was an Indian writer's work. It was a setback for Mehreen but she continued working for television and since then has made several award winning telefilms and TV series for numerous TV channels in Pakistan, in addition to a number of short films which have aired in festivals worldwide.
Ramchand Pakistani is her first feature-length film, which was released in Pakistan, India and the UK to wide critical and audience acclaim. The film premiered in the competition section of the Tribeca Film Festival
in New York in 2008. It won the FIPRESCI PRIZE from the International Federation of Film Critics and received Honourable Mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Awards at the London Film Festival
, 2008 as well as the Audience award
at the Fribourg International Film Festival. The film recently had a week long screening at the MOMA
(Museum of Modern Art) in New York.
Mehreen has been a member of the Central Board of Film Censors
in Karachi
, a founding member of WAR (War Against Rape), the Kara Film Festival
in Karachi, and has also served as a juror at the Leeds International Film Festival
. Recently she was the Artistic Director and Directing Mentor at the Maisha Film Lab in Uganda, a non profit film lab founded by director Mira Nair
. Mehreen currently resides in New York City .
in Switzerland
.
Audience members viewed over 13 outstanding films from around the world, and Ramchand Pakistani secured the highest number of “First Preference” votes. Countries whose films were also featured in the main competition included India
, Germany
, China
, France
, Iran
, Algeria
, Brazil
, Belgium
, Mexico
, Chile
, Colombia
and South Korea
.
The Public Award at Fribourg includes a cash prize of 5,000 Swiss Francs for the Producer of the film. The award is sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(SIDA).
Director Mehreen Jabbar attended the five-day festival as a guest. She answered questions and comments from jam-packed audiences which warmly applauded the film at the end of each of its three screenings.
This is the fourth major international award won by Ramchand Pakistani since its release at international Festivals in 2008.
Daughters of the Late Colonel screened at:
Ramchand Pakistani Official Selection at:
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i film-maker and television director/producer. Mehreen is the daughter of well known media-person and businessman Javed Jabbar
Javed Jabbar
Javed Jabbar is a legend of advertising in Pakistan, a famous politician, former information minister and an intellectual. He is father of renowned producer Mehreen Jabbar...
, she was born in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Life
Mehreen grew up around Pakistan's show business. Her father, Javed JabbarJaved Jabbar
Javed Jabbar is a legend of advertising in Pakistan, a famous politician, former information minister and an intellectual. He is father of renowned producer Mehreen Jabbar...
has been a filmmaker, and a very successful ad man apart from a senator and a cabinet minister. After receiving a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from St. Joseph's College in Karachi, Mehreen went abroad to the USA in order to study film and completed a two year program at University of California Los Angeles in 1993, with a Film, Television and Video certificate, and returned to Pakistan to direct and produced drama series/serials under the banner of TasVeer Productions, almost all of which were critically acclaimed by the Pakistani press.
Jabbar directed her first play 1994, called Nivala, which was an adaptation of Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chughtai 1 was an eminent Urdu writer, known for her indomitable spirit and a fierce feminist ideology. She was considered the grand dame of Urdu fiction, as one of the four pillars of modern Urdu short story, the other three being Saadat Hasan Manto, Krishan Chander, and Rajinder Singh Bedi...
's short story. But the play never made it to the television screens, having been refused by state-run television channel PTV
Pakistan Television Corporation
The Pakistan Television Corporation is Pakistan's national television broadcaster. The first live transmission of PTV began on November 26, 1964, in Lahore...
on the grounds that it was an Indian writer's work. It was a setback for Mehreen but she continued working for television and since then has made several award winning telefilms and TV series for numerous TV channels in Pakistan, in addition to a number of short films which have aired in festivals worldwide.
Ramchand Pakistani is her first feature-length film, which was released in Pakistan, India and the UK to wide critical and audience acclaim. The film premiered in the competition section of the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in New York in 2008. It won the FIPRESCI PRIZE from the International Federation of Film Critics and received Honourable Mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Awards at the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, 2008 as well as the Audience award
Audience award
An audience award is typically an award at a film festival which is selected by the audience attending the festival, rather than by the festival jury or a group of critics.- Examples :...
at the Fribourg International Film Festival. The film recently had a week long screening at the MOMA
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(Museum of Modern Art) in New York.
Mehreen has been a member of the Central Board of Film Censors
Central Board of Film Censors
The Central Board of Film Censors is the regulatory body and censorship board of Pakistan. The CBFC is governed by the Motion Picture Ordinance, 1979 and rules made there under. The prime statuary function of the CBFC is censorship of films. With its Head office at Islamabad headed by the...
in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, a founding member of WAR (War Against Rape), the Kara Film Festival
Kara Film Festival
The KaraFilm Festival - Karachi International Film Festival is an internationally recognized film festival of Pakistan annually held in Karachi....
in Karachi, and has also served as a juror at the Leeds International Film Festival
Leeds International Film Festival
The Leeds International Film Festival is the largest film festival in England outside London. Held in November at various venues throughout Leeds, West Yorkshire it shows over 200 films from around the world, commercial and independent....
. Recently she was the Artistic Director and Directing Mentor at the Maisha Film Lab in Uganda, a non profit film lab founded by director Mira Nair
Mira Nair
Mira Nair is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films.She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! , won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination...
. Mehreen currently resides in New York City .
Ramchand Pakistani wins award in Switzerland
The Pakistani film Ramchand Pakistani directed by Mehreen Jabbar won the popular Public Award (the People’s Choice Award), presented on March 21, the final night of the prestigious Fribourg International Film FestivalFribourg International Film Festival
The Fribourg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected cultural films from Asia, Africa and Latin America....
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Audience members viewed over 13 outstanding films from around the world, and Ramchand Pakistani secured the highest number of “First Preference” votes. Countries whose films were also featured in the main competition included India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
The Public Award at Fribourg includes a cash prize of 5,000 Swiss Francs for the Producer of the film. The award is sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is an office-level agency in the federal administration of Switzerland, and a part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs...
(SIDA).
Director Mehreen Jabbar attended the five-day festival as a guest. She answered questions and comments from jam-packed audiences which warmly applauded the film at the end of each of its three screenings.
This is the fourth major international award won by Ramchand Pakistani since its release at international Festivals in 2008.
Noted television plays
- Ab Tum Ja Saktey Ho (Now you can go)
- Afsoon Khawab
- Aur Zindagi Badalti Hai (Life Changes)
- Beauty Parlor
- Daughters of the Late Colonel
- Deeda-e-Purkhoon
- Farar (Escape)
- Harjai (Betrayal)
- Lal Baig
- Putli Ghar (Puppet House)
- Sanam Gazida
- DorahaDoraha (drama)Doraha is a Pakistani drama television series which premiered on Geo Entertainment on October 17, 2008. It is an adaptation of an Urdu novel Mein Ne Khawabon Ka Shajar Dekha Hai, written by Umaira Ahmed. The serial is produced by Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani's production house 7th Sky...
(Crossroads) - Pehchaan (Identity)
- New York Stories
- Kahaniyaan (Stories)
- MalaalMalaalMalaal is a Pakistani drama television series which premiered on Hum TV on October 09, 2009. The series is written by Umaira Ahmed and directed by critically acclaimed director Mehreen Jabbar.-Plot:...
- Vasl
- DaamDaamDaam is a Pakistani drama television series which premiered on ARY Digital on June 11, 2010 and last episode was aired on October 15, 2010. The series is directed by award winning TV director Mehreen Jabbar, is written by popular Urdu novelist Umaira Ahmed , and produced by Humayun Saeed and...
(ARY) - Neeyat (ARY)
Awards and nominations
- Ramchand Pakistani wins FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics and receives Honourable mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Awards at the London Film Festival (2008)
- Won - Indus Drama Awards (2004) Best Director for Harjai
- Won - IndusVision Young Achievers Award (2002)
- Won - Lux Style AwardsLux Style AwardsThe Lux Style Awards is an award ceremony held annually in Pakistan since 2002. The awards celebrate "style" in the Pakistani entertainment industry, and honour the country's best talents in film, television, music, and fashion. Around 30 awards are given annually.The Lux Style Awards is considered...
(2002) Aur Zindagi Badalti Hai nominated for Best TV Series - Won - Kara Film FestivalKara Film FestivalThe KaraFilm Festival - Karachi International Film Festival is an internationally recognized film festival of Pakistan annually held in Karachi....
(2001) Best Director & Best medium-length Film for Daughters of the Late Colonel - Won - 9th Lux Style Awards (2010) Best TV Director for DorahaDoraha (drama)Doraha is a Pakistani drama television series which premiered on Geo Entertainment on October 17, 2008. It is an adaptation of an Urdu novel Mein Ne Khawabon Ka Shajar Dekha Hai, written by Umaira Ahmed. The serial is produced by Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani's production house 7th Sky...
- Nominated - 10th Lux Style Awards (2011) Best TV Director for DaamDaamDaam is a Pakistani drama television series which premiered on ARY Digital on June 11, 2010 and last episode was aired on October 15, 2010. The series is directed by award winning TV director Mehreen Jabbar, is written by popular Urdu novelist Umaira Ahmed , and produced by Humayun Saeed and...
Festival screenings
Beauty Parlor screened at:- Hong Kong International Film Festival
- Pusan Film Festival, South Korea
- San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, USA
- TrikoneTrikoneTrikone is a non-profit support, social, and political organization for South Asian bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender people. It was founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area and claims to be the oldest group of its kind in the world...
Festival, USA - New Orleans Film Festival, USA
- Toronto Inside Out Film Festival, Canada
- Regent Park Film Festival, Canada
- Leeds Film Festival,UK
- Bite the Mango Festival,UK
- Travelling Film Festival of the British Film Institute. UK
- Screenings at Pioneer Theatre, and the Queens Museum of Art , New York .
Daughters of the Late Colonel screened at:
- KaraFilm Festival, Pakistan
Ramchand Pakistani Official Selection at:
- Tribeca Film Festival
- Seattle International Film Festival
- Osian Film Festival
- Rhode Island International Film Festival
- Pusan International Film Festival
- London International Film Festival
- South Asian International Film Festival
- Third I Film Festival, San Francisco
- Cairo International Film Festival
- Dubai International Film Festival
- Kerala Film Festival
- Fribourg Film Festival