In a historic first, Unmasking, the short film from Pakistan, dealing with the subject of vaccine hesitancy, has been screened in six continents of the world, with 26 international film festivals’ official selections, receiving 12 international awards. The Hollywood graduate filmmaker of Unmasking, Khalid Hasan Khan wrote the screenplay of this film along with directing and co-producing the film with a tagline, “Get Vaccinated.” The filmmaker highlighted the relevance of this short film by referring the latest reports from WHO; “Rapidly escalating COVID-19 cases amid reduced virus surveillance forecasts a challenging autumn and winter in the WHO European Region” and from Reuters; “As the third winter of the coronavirus pandemic looms in the northern hemisphere, scientists are warning weary governments and populations alike to brace for more waves of COVID-19”.
The short film, Unmasking has won awards, in all the mainstream categories of different film festivals around the globe, that include; Istanbul Film Awards (The Best Foreign Short Film), World Film Carnival, Singapore, (The Best Short Film: less than 30 minutes), Rameshwaram International Film Festival (The Best Short Film – International Competition Short Films), Indo French International Film Festival (Special Jury Award- International & Indian Short Film, The Best International Short Film, and The Best Director-International & Indian Short Film), Marudham Indie Film Festival (The Best Screenplay Writer Short Film & The Best Concept Short Film), Golden Leaf International Film Festival (The Best Concept Short Film), Virgin Spring Cinefest (The Best Screenplay), Halicarnassus Film Festival (The Best Creative Short Film) and ARG International Film Festival (The Best Editing).
Unmasking with pro-vaxxer message stars, Ali E, Danish Wakeel and Talal Farhat. The international film festivals, where Unmaking has award-winning status or official screenings, from 2021 to 2022, include the following countries of the world; Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, India, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.
With a runtime (TRT) of 15 minutes, the Pakistani short dispelled all the conspiracy theories about anti-vax campaigns that were rife, on social media, during the initial vaccine roll out. The film crew included director of photography, Shaam, assistant director, Sherry; while Muneeb Moon mastered music and effects. Mrs. Rehman, Dr Hassan Jamal and Sufyan Khalid were the executive producers of the project with Syed Ovais Ali as the associate producer.