Meet the director

Since obtaining her MPhil in Anthropology and Development from the University of Cambridge, Samar Minallah Khan has been advocating for the rights of children and women through various creative tools such as film and Pakistani truck art. She envisions her documentaries as a platform to amplify the voices of those who are seldom heard in society.

In 2003, Samar created her first documentary, ‘Swara: A Bridge Over Troubled Waters’. Her goal was to raise awareness and mobilize policymakers to abolish Swara, a culturally sanctioned form of forced marriages. She filed the first public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against compensation marriages and illegal Jirga rulings. Thanks in part to Samar’s efforts, in 2004, the practice was declared illegal in Pakistan and dozens of girls were rescued.

Most of her films are made in regional languages and screened locally to allow people to connect with her stories. Samar’s approach involves taking all community members on board to tackle some of the most pressing social issues such as child marriages and violence against women. She uses popular art mediums to focus on unsung heroes within rural communities, such as Pakistani fathers who take enormous risks to stand up for their daughters.

Samar is a pioneer in using truck art for highlighting the rights of women and children in Pakistan. With the collaboration of traditional truck artists and truck owners, powerful imagery of empowered young girls occupied the spaces of trucks that travelled to some of the most far-flung areas of the country. Using truck art as a form of social change and advocacy has allowed Samar’s message to resonate with audiences especially in the rural areas of Pakistan.