Sixteen-year-old Nisha lives a double life. With her friends, she’s a regular Norwegian teenager who likes wearing makeup, dancing to techno, and sneaking out at night. But at home with her family, she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, studying and working hard to one day become a doctor. But when her father catches her alone with a boyfriend, Nisha’s two worlds brutally collide. Nisha’s parents send her to live with extended family in a small town in Pakistan.
There, in an unfamiliar country surrounded by people she barely knows, Nisha must adapt to a rigid culture that denies her the freedoms she once enjoyed, strictly surveilled by an aunt and uncle and threatened with abandonment and public humiliation if she does not conform to new standards. And as Nisha struggles to find a way to return to Norway, she must negotiate cultural differences and the pressures of traditionalism
Based on director Iram Haq’s own experiences as a young Pakistani woman in Norway and winner of Audience Awards at AFI Fest and the Les Arcs European Film Festival, What Will People Say is a tense and moving drama about women’s rights, immigrant identity, and familial duties. (Directed by Iram Haq, 2018)
About the Director
Iram Haq (b. 1976) is an actress, writer and director. She made and starred in her directorial debut, the short film Little Miss Eyeflap, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.
Her feature film debut I Am Yours premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2013 and was selected as Norway’s official Oscar entry. The film has gone on to win a number of prizes at festivals around the world.
About The Series
1547838000
1547845200
FRI—January 18—7 PM
106 min. In Norwegian and Urdu with English subtitles.
$14 ($10 ASF Members)
Series Pass $75 ($55 ASF Members)