Mela Jaloos (Translation: Festival Procession, in Urdu) is a 13-minute art film that embarks upon a speculative queer Muslim journey of celebration, resistance, and protest. Taking a performance-based approach, the film uses poetic and hybrid means to present a kaleidoscope of influences that are rooted in Sufi histories, queerness, and life in Lahore, Pakistan.

Director & Writer
Abdullah Qureshi

Co-Producers
Abdullah Qureshi & Eshah Shakeel

Director of Photography
Saad Ayub, Yratta Media

Editor & Color
Tamara Al-Mashouk

Music & Sound
Zain Awan

The film employs a fictional and experimental narrative, exploring cruising from a mythological and queer perspective. The visuals draw on personal memories and encounters of the artist, extending characters and symbols from the paintings of Anwar Saeed (b. 1955). The music is composed by Zan and includes the voices of Fares, Hassan Tariq, and extracts from a conversation conducted by Abdullah Qureshi in Marseille, France, with queer Muslim friends talking about cruising.

Director
Abdullah Qureshi

Co-produced in collaboration with
Khadeeja Arham, Zainab Zulfiqar, Umair Sajid, and Hadi Rehman

Post-Production Producer
Danai Anagnostou

Director of Photography
Hadi Rehman

Exhibited at:
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, 2021
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, 2021
Universität für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 2021
Paul Mellon Centre’s London, Asia, Art Worlds conference, 2021
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, 2021
South Asia Institute, Chicago, 2021
SIC Space, Helsinki, 2020

Selected for:
London Rocks Film Festival, London, 2021
Soura Film Festival, Berlin, 2021
Image + Nation Festival, Montreal, 2021
FilmPride Festival, Brighton, 2021
Kaalo.101, Patan, 2021
Les Mains Gauches, Marseille, 2021
CINEMAQ, Shanghai, 2021
Flikkers Queer Film Festival, UK, 2021

Journey to the CharBagh, 17 minutes, 2019

Drawing upon Sufi traditions of interpreting Islamic sacred texts that celebrate love and equality, Journey to the CharBagh is a poetic and experimental exploration of queerness from a Muslim perspective. The narrative focuses on the figure of the Buraq, a winged mythological creature with the ability to travel to heaven, encountering terrestrial and celestial beings, moving toward a spiritual and queer awakening.

Director
Abdullah Qureshi

Producer
Danai Anagnostou

Directors of Photography
Hadi Rehman (Pakistan)
Kerttu Hakkarainen (Finland)

Exhibited at:
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, 2021 and 2020
Karachi House, Karachi, 2020
The Colony, Lahore, 2020

Screened at:
Transart Institute, Berlin, 2020
Fabrica De Arte Cubano, Havana, 2019
Ateneum Art Museum, 2019

Selected for:
Divvy Film Festival, Lahore, 2021
Soura Film Festival, Berlin, 2021
Palace Film Festival, Bristol, 2021
Xposed International Queer Film Festival, Berlin, 2021
Toronto Queer Film Festival, Toronto, 2021
Video Art Festival, Turku, 2020
Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival, Oslo, 2020
Today Is Our Tomorrow festival, Helsinki, 2019