• Seemab Gul’s short film Sandstorm won at HollyShorts 2022.
• The film festival ranked it third.
• Top three festival winners are automatically Oscar nominees.

Seemab Gul’s short film Sandstorm won at HollyShorts 2022. (Mulaqat). The film festival ranked it third. 11-20 August 2022 was HollyShorts Film Festival. Oscar-qualifying short-film festival. Top three festival winners are automatically Oscar nominees. Hallelujah won the Grand Prix for best short, Sandstorm (Mulaqat) won for best live-action short, and Scale won for best animation.

Seemab Gul’s Mulaqat triumphed in two Oscar-qualifying festivals in August 2022, which is also Pakistan’s Independence Day. Sandstorm was produced by Seemab Gul and Abid Aziz Merchant for Sanat Initiative and Instinct Productions. Zara is the film’s main character. Her usual existence changes when she sends her virtual lover a passionate dancing video. The lover blackmails her into seeing him.

Will Zara give in to the stranger’s demands or escape? I Think I Have a Crush on You is a similar short film. Nadja’s story is about internet grooming. As their online flirting intensifies, William convinces the girl to undress in a video chat, which he uses to blackmail her. The New Yorker reported in May that this happened. Inspired by an Egyptian girl’s tale.

Ghadeer Ahmed, an Egyptian youngster, took a video of herself dancing in a short dress at her friend’s home in 2009…. Her boyfriend saw the video and photos. After three years, he began mailing her threats. He’d release the video and images online if she didn’t return. This anecdote inspired Pakistani director Seemab Gul to develop Sandstorm.