Berlinale 2026: Seemab Gul on Pakistan’s ‘Ghost School’ and bringing the film to India

In 2022, erstwhile Britain-based Pakistani indie filmmaker Seemab Gul was covering the floods crossed Pakistan, she came crossed ‘ghost schools’ successful Sindh and Balochistan. A chink successful Pakistan’s armour, ‘ghost schools’ are fundamentally either bare and hollow buildings that were ne'er completed oregon are being utilized by section feudal lords arsenic either barns oregon warehouses. Gul juxtaposes the request for acquisition (girls’ education, especially, and forced schoolhouse dropouts) with infrastructural lack, the rising numbers of bare schoolhouse buildings owing to the deficiency of teachers, etc.

A Berlinale talent, Gul’s Ghost School, which had its satellite premiere past twelvemonth astatine TIFF, present heads to the 76-year-old Berlin International Film Festival for its European premiere successful the Generation Kplus (children and young big film) competition. “Some of my favourite Iranian cinema and Romanian caller question films person travel retired of Berlinale. I always get inspired by the divers and eclectic sensation of the programmers,” says Gul, successful whose films (Sandstorm; Ghost School), schoolgoing teen young girls are the protagonists. And portion fearfulness would person been the evident genre for Ghost School, Gul veered towards magic realism.

Ghost School and Sarmad Khoosat’s Lali are the archetypal Pakistani communicative diagnostic films to premiere astatine the Berlinale ever. While Gul’s movie is an planetary co-production making its European premiere, Khoosat’s is simply a afloat homegrown, Pakistan-produced film, making its satellite premiere successful the prestigious Berlinale Panorama segment, the archetypal Pakistani movie successful 30 years successful this section. Both films person a thematic “ghost” touch. “It’s astonishing that nary Pakistani diagnostic films person played astatine Berlinale before, isolated from 1 documentary. For filmmakers from countries wherever cinema is astir abandoned, it means a batch to showcase our enactment and beryllium seen by divers and keen audiences and beryllium a portion of the planetary movie community,” she says. Ghost School volition person 5 screenings astatine the 76^th Berlinale, which is acceptable to instrumentality spot from February 12 to 22.

Edited excerpts from an interrogation with Seemab Gul:

What has been your relation with the Berlinale festival?

I was a portion of the Berlinale Talents programme successful 2019, which was a large experience. It was a supportive environment with talented young filmmakers and with masterclasses and screenings. I’ve since attended the European Film Market (EFM) astatine Berlinale a mates of times and recovered it a fruitful place to network.

Teen years and school are recurring themes successful your films, arsenic seen successful your abbreviated movie Mulaqat/Sandstorm (2021). Tell america astir your caller film.

Ghost School is my debut diagnostic film, which is an exploration of the systemic corruption successful agrarian Pakistan, wherever thousands of ‘ghost schools’ beryllium lone connected paper, leaving countless children without entree to education. These schools remain abandoned portion officials and teachers inactive cod salaries, perpetuating a rhythm of ignorance and poverty.

Told done the eyes of a funny and brave young girl, the movie highlights the innocence and determination of a kid questioning the injustice astir her. My different films are often astir the pistillate acquisition told done a pistillate lens successful Pakistan. I similar the thought of my films being timeless, although Sandstorm was intelligibly acceptable successful the modern day.

According to the latest data, 62% out-of-school children are females successful Pakistan. Could you archer maine a small much astir these ‘ghost schools’? Did you witnesser them increasing up earlier you near for the UK?

There is nary factual probe into ‘ghost schools’, and I didn’t witnesser them increasing up successful Karachi. Recently, I searched a batch and asked academics who had done immoderate research; however, that was besides dated. ‘Ghost schools’ are fundamentally either bare and hollow buildings that were ne'er completed, oregon are being utilized by section feudal lords arsenic either barns oregon warehouses. It’s an unfastened concealed successful Pakistan, yet nary 1 knows however to tackle this problem, which affects girls and boys equally. Girls’ education, however, is simply a much analyzable matter, which depends connected the fearfulness of girls travelling to school and, successful immoderate cultures, their families bash not enactment it. In my idiosyncratic experience, though, astir parents wanted to nonstop their girls to schools if they were section and trustworthy. But schools often person much superior problems with teachers who got their jobs done connections and hardly cognize however to teach. Further, determination is simply a occupation of poorness wherever children, boys and girls, often leave school to enactment to marque ends meet. In immoderate blimpish families, for example, the Pashtuns, they get their girls joined early.

Society cannot germinate erstwhile determination is corruption creating poverty. Although the authorities tries to tackle this, determination is simply a propulsion towards privatisation by the IMF (International Monetary Fund), etc. This is making the concern worse for the poorest and peasant children, who are successful the millions. These are each the reasons for deficiency of acquisition successful Pakistan.

How did you travel to marque a movie connected this subject? 

In 2022, erstwhile I was covering the floods crossed Pakistan, I came crossed ‘ghost schools’ successful Sindh and Balochistan. What broke my bosom was to spot a ghost hospital and a ghost college with my ain eyes. Ghost schools are much common, though (in thousands), and initially I thought astir making a documentary astir conscionable 1 pupil asking villagers wherefore her school shut down. But when I sat to constitute the screenplay, it just made consciousness to make a communicative film.

Could you elaborate a small connected the taxable of ghosts in Pakistani nine and cinema, successful presumption of sex and the pistillate acquisition successful a patriarchal South Asia.

My movie is much astir a pistillate student’s struggle to get answers from the elders and villagers arsenic to wherefore her school is closed. I took the word ‘ghost’ schools literally, yet metaphorically explored the thought of a haunted school. Djinn are precise overmuch a portion of Pakistani people tales and are wide accepted, yet erstwhile these buildings stay bare for years, it becomes an casual solution to telephone them haunted by djinn. My beardown pistillate protagonist, however, finds the courageousness to spot whether these rumours are existent oregon conscionable gangly tales. I had the enactment to determination much towards horror, which is fashionable these days, but I wanted to steer towards magical realism instead.

Now, arsenic an outsider, bash you look disapproval from wrong Pakistan, bash you anticipation to merchandise your movie successful Pakistani theatres?

I’ve faced insignificant disapproval for choosing hard subjects that whitethorn amusement Pakistan successful a mediocre light. But arsenic agelong arsenic these problems persist, I privation to picture them successful my films to unfastened debates connected these important topics.

I anticipation to bring Ghost School to cinemas successful Pakistan this twelvemonth and americium unfastened to releasing it connected TV and different platforms. I would similar to bash this successful Pakistan arsenic good arsenic South Asia, including India.

How challenging was it to marque this film?  

I initially made this movie aft my different movie was postponed, and I got bushed of waiting for producers and financiers, truthful I decided to get wealth to finance, write, nonstop and nutrient Ghost School each wrong a year. I wrote to implicit a 100 contacts astir the world, but nary 1 successful the manufacture helped, truthful I borrowed from family and friends. The movie was changeable successful November 2024 and premiered at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) successful September 2025. The movie was changeable successful 2 antithetic villages connected the outskirts of Karachi, Chashma Goth and Darsano Chano (which translates arsenic the colony of education). All the 200 formed and unit members were local, isolated from one, the cinematographer, Zamarin Wahdat, who is an Afghan-born German. When successful post-production, the movie aboriginal got enactment from the Hamburg Film Fund and the Red Sea Film Fund. This truly helped maine financially, but I americium inactive paying backmost debts.

What bash you consciousness astir originative friendships/collaborations betwixt India and Pakistan? Can creation heal wounds?

As a filmmaker funny successful social-realist cinema, I bash believe in the powerfulness of movie to bespeak connected our times, to make dialog connected urgent topics and to heal wounds, too. I adjacent thought astir a movie festival that could bring unneurotic each South Asians successful a neutral country. There are already Pakistani dramas playing connected Zee TV and connected different Indian platforms. So, I don’t recognize wherefore we can’t person each other’s films successful our cinemas. This could bring taste exchanges portion creating empathy amongst our populations and, thus, bid successful the region. Although fashionable cinema is important and is necessary for the manufacture to thrive, it shouldn’t be utilized for nationalist propaganda. More importantly, we request divers films from a wide scope of filmmakers to make a much absorbing cinema culture.