Sarmad Khoosat’s Lali and Mo Naqvi’s Hanging By A Wire were honoured at the event.
05 Oct, 2026
Pakistani cinema is having its moment in the sun, with films playing — and winning — at festivals around the world. On Sunday, the industry added a few more feathers to its cap at the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival (MISAFF) in Mississauga, Canada.
Lali, director Sarmad Khoosat’s dark comedy which debuted at the Berlinale earlier this year, opened MISAFF and ended up with both the Special Jury Prize and the Best Sound Design Award.
The film revolves around Zeba (played by Mamya Shajaffar), a young woman who gains the label of a “cursed bride” after three of her previous suitors die under mysterious circumstances.
Hanging by a Wire, Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s documentary — which is also Pakistan’s entry for this year’s Academy Awards — won the Sabeen Mahmud Award for Courage in Cinema.
The story follows the harrowing Battagram cable car incidentfrom 2023 when eight people — including six children of varying ages — got stuck on a local cable car 900 feet above a raging river. All the stranded passengers were rescued after a challenging, day-long operation.
Kamran Faiq’s The Last Glance, a short film centred on a family trying to flee violence in their village, took home the Best International Short Film award and the documentary The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony— about a group of gymnasts from Karachi’s Macchar Colony — took home an Honourable Mention in the race for Best Documentary.
MISAFF, which organised its 12th edition this year, intends to showcase South Asian cinema — with voices from West Asia and North Africa — to a Canadian audience.
This year’s festival ran from September 30 to October 4 and had a total of 16 feature-length and 30 short films from Canada, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Iran and beyond.
