What happens when a ten-year-old girl refuses to accept silence and superstition in place of answers? That’s the question at the heart of Ghost School, the stunning debut feature from Pakistani filmmaker Seemab Gul, which had its world premiere at TIFF on September 8th as part of the Discovery programme. Mixing sharp social critique with touches of magical realism, the film follows ten-year-old Rabia (Nazualiya Arsalan) on her search for truth after her village school abruptly closes amid rumours of jinn possession and bureaucratic neglect. The day after its premiere, I had the chance to catch up with Seemab to talk about having Ghost School premiere at TIFF, how her background in documentaries influenced the making of the film, what’s next and more.
JG: Ghost School is part of TIFF’s Discovery program, which exclusively features world premieres. What did it mean to you to have your film launched in this space?
Seemab Gul: It was absolutely an honour to be in the Discovery program, and it’s a dream come true to have my debut feature film at one of the top film festivals in North America.
JG: Ghost School is your first feature after years of shorts and documentaries. What made you feel that this story was the one that demanded a feature-length telling?
Seemab Gul: I think for all my films, I’ve realized it takes a few years. This one was quicker in a way, because at this time last year, I was writing the first draft. You know that one will end up spending a long time with the film, so the topic has to be something that really resonates and that you are willing to spill blood, sweat and tears over. This topic is close to my heart. Neither of my grandmothers had a chance to go to school, and they could not read or write. With me having gone to the London Film School at a Master’s level, I realized the privilege I have, and I wanted to reflect on girls’ education in Pakistan. The literacy rate for women in Pakistan is only 50%.
Two years ago, I travelled with Greenpeace International across Pakistan, covering the floods. I discovered with my own eyes the ghost schools, ghost hospitals, and ghost colleges. When I asked Pakistani people what they were, a lot of people just either pleaded ignorance, pretended they didn’t know, or actually didn’t know what they were. And then some people denied their existence. And so there was just such a huge mystery around it. Even now, the statistics are so vague, but there are approximately 15,000 ghost schools across Pakistan, leaving over 22 million children out of education. It’s a topic with such huge repercussions, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and ignorance.
JG: I wasn’t familiar with the concept of ghost schools before watching this. What responsibility do you think cinema has in bringing attention to issues that governments and institutions often prefer to ignore?
Seemab Gul: That’s an interesting question because cinema can also be seen as just entertainment, which it has been in South Asia for 100 years. Some films have socio-political messages. But I think ultimately it’s up to the filmmaker, what their vision of the world is and what social responsibility they want to carry, whether they want to comment on something socio-political. I would argue that everything is almost socio-political. Even rom-coms or horror films.
I have a strong documentary background, and I’m very much interested in news. This socio-political aspect of filmmaking is an extension of my activism. Although I think there’s a danger that films could become a little too political and too strongly messaged, which can sometimes alienate the audience.
JG: How did you approach balancing political critique with the more poetic, fable-like elements of the story?
Seemab Gul: I think the fact that I had the freedom as a writer, director, producer, and virtually the financier, the weight that I carried was the risk I was taking with this film. And yet, I had the freedom to do and say as I liked and hone my craft and the visual language as I liked. You know, some takes are longer than others, and the strong social message is definitely there. I’m very much inspired by social realism. Even in the UK at the London Film School, Mike Leigh was one of the patrons, and he even gave us master classes. The power of cinema to inspire audiences to move towards social change or look at the world in a different light is an incredible privilege and responsibility as a filmmaker.
JG: You wore so many hats while working on this. Did your documentary background shape how you approached the authenticity of Ghost School?
Seemab Gul: Yes, definitely. I think my documentary background is the key to being able to improvise. As you go along, there are lots of surprises, and you’re discovering the story. This script was eight drafts in the making, so it was much more of a controlled environment. Filming in Pakistan, where there is no independent cinema, and only a handful of films come out in a year, we had to improvise on many levels. But at the same time, I think as a documentarian, the risk was that I ended up having too many cast members. Because I did not have a producer or financier telling me not to do that, I ended up having an enormous amount of cast and crew members. At the end, there were 250 cast and crew members on the film. I got super lucky with Nazualiya Arsalan, the lead actor, who is actually a professional TV and drama actor.
JG: Nazualiya Arsalan’s character Rabia’s perspective is so central to the film. What was it like working with Nazualiya? And how did you guide such a young professional performer through the emotional weight of the role?
Seemab Gul: Nazualiya is just so incredible, so dedicated, so professional, and her parents are really supporting her career path into acting, which is not easy because she has to balance school and other things. But she really got it. And you know, I thought to myself, is this film for children? Is it for adults? Then I said to Nazualiya, Do you understand the story? And she read the entire script and said she absolutely understood it. She’s intelligent for her age, and she hangs out with the adults, so she thinks more like a pre-teen. She understood the meaning, and she’s a very good listener. I think that’s a part of being an excellent actor. She listens to directions and really is sensitive and intelligent about how to execute the directions into a great performance.
JG: Absolutely. It was a star-making performance, in my opinion. Something that I really picked up on while watching was the use of silence in the film, you know, from Rabia’s mother, to the adults in the village, to the authorities. How do you think silence sort of played a role as a dramatic device and also as a political statement in the film?
Seemab Gul: Karachi is a very, very noisy city. Even the external villages are very noisy, and the population is a lot. You think you’re in a quiet corner, and suddenly you find children, chickens, dogs, cats, goats, and all kinds of animals. So, in terms of silence, that’s an interesting concept. The principal doesn’t answer when Rabia asks questions. Some of the people just ignore her. The silence can be denial or lies or withholding of truth, but it also can allow for reflection for the audience, giving them a breather in terms of not having to read subtitles. I would like it to be in Pakistani cinemas or on Pakistani TV. But with this kind of cinematic language, I’m nervous to know what local audiences will make of it and how they will consume it. Because life is tough in Pakistan, Bollywood has been doing well with song and dance and happy stories for so long, because people want a fantasy. People want to escape. Although my film has a tinge of magical realism fantasy, it’s very, very minimal and ultimately a tragic story with a bittersweet ending.
JG: That’s interesting. Are there plans currently for Ghost School to start airing in Pakistan at some point?
Seemab Gul: Yes, indeed. I would like all my films to show in Pakistan, as well as the rest of the world. We’re aiming for distribution in cinemas in Pakistan. And I would love for it to eventually be on TV. Let’s see how it goes. I’m aiming for next year sometime.
JG: Oh, good luck. That would be great. After such a big premiere for Ghost School at TIFF, what’s next for you? Are you already thinking ahead to the next projects? Or are you staying focused and in the moment on Ghost School? Where are you at with that?
Seemab Gul: I shot Ghost School because I had another film that was fully financed and was postponed unnecessarily. And so that film, which has been postponed twice, is now in pre-production. We are shooting in November. It’s called Haven of Hope. I am the writer, director, and producer. It’s a five-country European co-production. It’s a very ambitious film, which will now be my second feature.
JG: Wow, okay. Well, I will definitely keep an eye out for that. That sounds like it’s going to be epic.
Seemab Gul: Thank you so much. It’s quite a challenge to make films back-to-back. I never planned it this way, but this is the way it happened because I really wanted to shoot Ghost School last year. On average, I’ve heard that it takes 10 years between a first and second feature, especially for female directors, because they often start families in their 30s. And so it’s an absolute pleasure and a bit of luck to have films literally a few months apart.
You can catch another screening of Ghost School at TIFF today, September 10th, at Scotiabank Theatre.