Zindagi Tamasha didn’t see the light of the day, but held the prestige of becoming Pakistan’s official ‘Oscar 2021’ submission. Unfortunately, Sarmad Khoosat’s film is out of the Oscars 2021 race.
Directed and co-produced by Sarmad Khoosat and his sister Kanwal Khoosat, written by Nirmal Bano, Zindagi Tamasha features an ensemble cast of Arif Hassan, Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz and Ali Kureshi.
The crux of the film is based on the intimate lives of a family residing in old Lahore, Punjab, and revolves around a scorching political commentary. Realistic portrayals in a backdrop of holy celebration, the trailer and teasers were quite promising.
The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee had selected Khoosat’s 15-minute film to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the ‘International Feature Film Award’ category for the 93rd Academy Awards.
The Oscar committee for 2020 was chaired by two-time Academy Award and Emmy winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and includes Faisal Kapadia, Asad-ul-Haq, Hamza Bangash, Syed Muhammad Ahmed, Mehwish Hayat, Hasan Shehreyar Yasin, Asim Abbasi, Arshad Mahmud and Jamal Shah.
The ‘Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ has announced the shortlist for nine categories for the upcoming awards, reported Variety. The categories and number of films include a documentary feature (15), documentary short subject (10), international feature (15), makeup and hairstyling (10), original score (15), original song (15), animated short film (10), live-action short film (10) and visual effects (10).
Voting for the nominations will begin on Friday, March 5, 2021, and conclude on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Nominations for Oscars 2021 will be announced on Monday, March 15, 2021, and the Oscars will air on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
