The work examines themes of family.
Director Shehrezad Maher’s short film The Curfew was screened at the Venice Biennale on September 4, 2025, marking Pakistan’s only entry this year.
The film, running 19 minutes, was showcased first at Sala Giardino and again at Astra 1 on September 5.
Produced by Lindsay Blair Goeldner and Meetra Javed, the project features a talented cast.
This includes Sathya Sridharan, Balinder Johal, Sara Haider, Rajesh Bose, Chris Thorn and Salwa Khan.
Cinematography for the short was helmed by Dustin Lane, with production design by Ana Novacic.
Distribution for the project was done by Fae Pictures and Baby Daal Productions.
The work examines themes of family, memory, and cultural inheritance, focusing on relationships shaped by both generational distance and historical echoes.
Maher described the inspiration for the project as beginning with imagery rather than dialogue, noting her background in visual arts.
Her approach placed emphasis on silence and unspoken tension, with much of the story unfolding through restrained performances and quiet visual details.
Balinder Johal joined the production late, a choice that unintentionally added to the sense of distance between key characters.
Sara Haider contributed in a voice role, shaping dynamics through vocal improvisation and subtle exchanges that balanced the film’s heavier atmosphere.
The project also reflects Maher’s artistic shift from experimental nonfiction to narrative cinema, following her earlier documentary This Shaking Keeps Me Steady.
She won the 2023 Islamic Scholarship Fund’s National Film Grant for The Curfew, supporting the short through its production and international debut.
Maher is a New York-based filmmaker whose work has previously screened at events such as Visions du Réel, RIDM, and the LA Film Forum.
Her films have also been featured at Anthology Film Archives, UnionDocs, and Experiments in Cinema, highlighting her longstanding presence in global art circuits.
Beyond this short, Maher is developing her feature script Theory of Colours, which was selected for the Hamptons Film Screenwriters Lab in 2023.
That project also received the Melissa Mathison Screenwriters Fund and Cinestory Feature Retreat’s Hagan Hicks Underrepresented Women’s Voices Scholarship.
The Curfew’s screening at the Venice Biennale marks her most significant achievement.
It places her among Pakistani filmmakers reaching international stages.
The selection echoes earlier successes like Saim Sadiq’s Darling, which won Best Short Film at Venice in 2019.
Shehrezad Maher’s screening this year continues that trajectory, reaffirming how Pakistani talent is steadily gaining recognition across the global landscape.
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