
These Silences are all the Words(2017)
Madiha Aijaz’s observational documentary on public libraries in Karachi, Pakistan, provides an entry point into present-day Karachi, where irredeemable changes feel imminent. While the libraries become a bastion for the literary tradition of Urdu, their frequent visitors lament the increasing dominance of English – a residual reminder of colonialism, partition and the ‘globalising’ present. Wrapped in quiet solitude, seated readers are shown hiding away from the hustle and bustle of urban life that can be seen outside.
Movie: These Silences are all the Words
Video Trailer These Silences are all the Words
Similar Movies
0.0Ishq e Qalandar - The Beautiful Sindh(en)
Ishq e Qalandar - The Beautiful Sindh is a travel film that takes viewers through one of the most ancient civilizations on Earth called Sindh. Shezan Saleem Jo-G takes a journey of self-realization, the discovery of his roots, and building a connection with people and spirituality in Sindh.
0.0Outlawed in Pakistan(en)
Outlawed in Pakistan tells the story of Kainat Soomro as she takes her rape case to Pakistan's deeply flawed court system in hopes of getting justice. The 13-year-old Kainat accuses four men of gang rape and shortly after is ordered to be killed by her village elders. Spanning over five years, the story is told through the perspective of Kainat and the four men accused of her rape.
6.5Big Water Theory(fr)
Follow French kayak superstar Nouria Newman and two childhood friends, as they navigate one of the world's most challenging sections of whitewater: the Rondu Gorge of the Indus River, in Pakistan. Documenting Nouria's attempt at completing the first integral descent of the Rondu Gorge by a woman, Big Water Theory is a compelling exploration of human spirit and the relentless pursuit of adventure. It offers a powerful and inspiring, yet highly detailed and informative look at the world of extreme kayaking. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Karakoram mountains, the film highlights the irreversible nature of the sport, with heart pounding descents that test the kayakers' psychological and physical limits.
0.0Lahore - Refugees from India(en)
Millions of Muslims flee to Lahore in the newly created state of Pakistan, prompted by the partition of British India.
0.0Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life in Peshawar, Pakistan(en)
Amir, shot during the height of the Afghan civil war in the 1980s, investigates and portrays the life of Afghan refugees living in and around the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan through the experiences of the musician Amir. The aspirations of Afghan refugees are expressed through their political songs dealing with the civil war in Afghanistan, with exile, with Afghan nationalism and with the Islamic revolution. In highly charged and tragic circumstances, music can be used in very direct ways, both to promote solidarity and as an agent of catharsis.
7.0Displaced Perssons(sv)
Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago. In Pakistan he fell in love and became the father of two daughters. Trouble starts when the girls grow up and the family decides to emigrate to Sweden. When they end up living in a caravan outside Hässleholm, all their expectations are dashed.
6.7American Animals(en)
Lexington, Kentucky, 2004. Four young men attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in the history of the United States.
5.5The Librarians(en)
Librarians unite to combat book banning, defending intellectual freedom on democracy's frontlines amid unprecedented censorship in Texas, Florida, and beyond.
0.0In the Shadow of Karakorum(de)
In 1954, a German-Austrian expedition led by Mathias Rebitsch set off for the difficult-to-access Karakoram Mountains, geographically north of the Himalayas. They come across the Hunza, a people who live in the valley of the same name and believe they are descended from the soldiers of Alexander the Great. The documentary conveys impressions of the poor life of the Hunza people, the harvest, a court hearing, festivals and the children's everyday school life. Finally, the expedition sets off again and sets up its main camp on the moraine ridge of a glacier, where they measure the glacier and the earth's magnetic field. Finally, some men from the research community set off for a sub-peak of Batura.
0.0The Quetta Earthquake(en)
Amateur footage of the devastation caused by one of South Asia's worst earthquakes.
A Walk Through Prospero's Library(en)
A short made for TV with director Peter Greenaway discussing the dazzling 3.5 minute opening sequence from his film, 'Prospero's Books'. As Prospero (John Gielgud) walks through his library, Greenaway comments on the historical, mythological, biblical & fictional characters occupying the library.
7.0All the World's Memory(fr)
A documentary about the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It presents the building, with its processes of cataloguing and preserving all sorts of printed material, as both a monument of cultural memory and as a monstrous, alien being.
6.0Karim's Footsteps(es)
Documentary about Abdul Karim, the most famous porter of the Karakoram, born in Hushé, a small village in northern Pakistan where the only way to earn money to survive the harsh winters is to work as a mountain porter with the expeditions on the highest peaks in the country. He climbed with the greatest mountaineers: Messner, Kukuczka, Boivin, Bonington... But his last, most ambitious and revolutionary project of all was to create the first women's mountaineering team in Baltistan.
0.0Thatta Kedona: The Toy Village of Pakistan(de)
Thatta Kedona is a remarkable village in rural Pakistan. Since 1991 36 volunteers from Western countries have visited and coached the village people in a help to self help project. Dolls and tin toys reflecting regional cultures of Pakistan are products which generate cash income for the farming families through the local cooperative-like NGO. On the other side those volunteers from Western countries are also having their fun by working in a rural village of Islamic society with strong overlays by the traditional culture of Indus Valley, the Mogul period, Hindu culture and the influences of British-India. Hence the playfulness of a "toy village" is on both sides. For the villagers by producing toys for cash in a not-yet industrialized region avoiding rural exodus to the big cites (and thus avoiding the poverty slums that are generated by migration). And joy for Western people being confronted by their own history stages in present time within a foreign context.
0.0The Case For Books(en)
This film about Library services in Australia shows some of the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the National Library with its varied resources and examples of State, University, special and public services suggesting their value in meeting needs for information at all levels. The library movement has become a vital part of Australian life. How libraries have fitted into society all over Australia, from the bustle of Sydney's Kings Cross to the remote outback.
0.0When Cousins Marry(en)
Looking at the consequences of first cousin marriage in Britain.
10.0K2, Traum und Schicksal(de)
Documentary about K2 tragedy of 1986. On August 4, 1986, Diemberger and Julie Tullis reached the summit of K2 very late in the day. Shortly after starting their descent, Tullis fell and dragged Diemberger down with her. Fortunately, they somehow stopped from going over the edge and spent the night above 8,000 metres. They managed to reach Camp IV the next day, where they were forced to share a tent with six other climbers after their tent had collapsed from hurricane force winds. Tullis died later that night, possibly from high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and only one other climber, Austrian Willi Bauer, survived the descent with Diemberger. Both climbers suffered severe frostbite during the descent and had to have amputations.
0.0The Pigeons of Lahore(ur)
The parallel stories of four Pakistani immigrants in Greece become the trigger for the director to explore the story of his father, a worker in the Perama Shipyard. The background unfolds a most deadly shipwreck, Libyan immigrants found in limbo, as well as a (possibly racist) crime, which was committed during the shooting of this film.

