Filmmaker Seemab Gul’s short film Sandstorm (Mulaqat) was among the top three films at the HollyShorts Film Festival 2022, which ran in August. HollyShorts is an Oscar-qualifying festival for short-film categories, and the winners of those three awards are automatically entered in the Oscar race. According to The Wrap, Hallelujah won the Grand Prix for the festival’s best short, Sandstorm took the honours as the best live-action short and Scale won for animation. “Mulaqat, directed by Seemab Gul, won at two Academy Award qualifying festivals HollyShorts and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in August 2022. The film has been produced by Gul and Merchant in collaboration with Sanat Initiative and Instinct Productions. Starring Hamza Mushtaq, Parizae Fatima, Ayesha Shoaib Ahmed and Nabila Khan, it is the story of a teenage girl named Zara whose life turns tumultuous after she shares a sensual dance video with her virtual boyfriend. He starts to blackmail her into meeting him in person. The short has made its way to several notable film festivals, including Sundance, Vaughan and Short Shorts.