Experiencing Interruptions?

City of Smiles

The year is 2071. Pakistan's Amir-e-Mumlikat has
ushered in an era of peace, prosperity, and stability after a civil war that lasted three decades. The cost for this new found peace: constant surveillance and a world in which the only expression citizens are allowed is a smile.

  • Arafat Mazhar
    Director
  • Isma Gul Hasan
    Creative Director
  • Haseeb Rehman
    Lead Animator
  • Rasti Farooq
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Shehr-e-Tabassum
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Genres:
    Dystopia, Sci-FI, South Asian Cyberpunk
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Pakistan
  • Country of Filming:
    Pakistan
  • Language:
    English, Urdu
  • Shooting Format:
    2D Hand Drawn Animation
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Lahore Music Meet 2020
    Lahore
    Pakistan
    February 2, 2020
    Pakistan Premiere
  • Palm Springs International Animation Festival (PSIAF) 2020
    Palm Springs, California
    United States
    December 22, 2020
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • YouTube
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Internet
  • Vidly
    Distributor
    Country: Pakistan
    Rights: Internet
Director Biography - Arafat Mazhar

Arafat Mazhar is the Director of Engage Foundation for Research and Dialogue where 9 years of research came together in the seminal report, “The Untold Truth of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws'', recognized for its rigor by human rights groups and presented at various prestigious academic institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Stanford, Woodrow Wilson, and University of Oslo among others. Arafat is also the winner of the Malala Yousafzai Award for Courage. 

In 2019, Arafat launched the animation studio, Puffball, where he gets to practice his other two loves: music and visual design. Puffball Studio's debut film was the highly acclaimed Pakistani dystopian short, Shehr-e-Tabassum which was praised by critics as “a treat to behold”. The film takes inspiration from lessons learned on censorship while researching Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws to tell a poignant story about fear and freedom in Pakistan today. Puffball's second animated film is due to be released September 2020.

Arafat has also created multiple educational online platforms: Shehri Pakistan, which produces civic and legal literacy animations; Hashiya, a history channel with a focus on critical approaches to history; and Soch Videos, an award-winning online news platform . He is currently working on a documentary on the history of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, scheduled for release by end of 2020. 

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Director Statement

In 2010, after the extrajudicial murder of a Pakistani Governor in the name of "ishq-e-rasool" (love of the Prophet), I recognised an insidious pattern in my experience of violence in Pakistan. I realized that over time we had allowed a corruption of our language, which hid violence behind ethical and moral goods such as honour and love. 

The last word you want to associate with "honour" is "killing", the last word you want to associate with "love" is "murder". And yet, when you say "honour" in Pakistan, the next word out of your mouth is "killing". We've experienced a narrowing of possibilities of how one feels honour, how one practices one's faith, and, most horrifically, how one loves. When ideas of loving (your faith, your family, your nation) are systematically defined for you, they cease to be what they are, and become instruments of control. 

When you force an expression to hold only one meaning, it becomes inherently violent. This understanding inspired me to tell a story, as fantastical as it may be, which reflects this corruption. Taking the most simple and universal of pure expressions, the smile, and corrupting it by transforming it into an instrument of control. It is a story of the dehumanization of human expression itself and what the possibilities of resistance could be in a world such as this.