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Pakistan’s Central Board of Film Censors (Cbfc) has banned Pakistani-American filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal’s “I’ll Meet You There” a week ahead of its theatrical release in the country.

The Cbfc found the film unsuitable for public exhibition on the grounds that it “does not reflect true Pakistani culture, portrays a negative image of Muslims, wrong/dubious interpretation of Islamic teachings and our society which is against the norms of Islamic, social and cultural values of Pakistan.” The Cbfc has refused to grant a censorship certificate on these grounds.

The film was selected for SXSW’s narrative feature competition in 2020 before the spread of the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival’s cancelation. Mini-studio Level Forward acquired North American virtual theatrical rights and impact distribution privileges for the film and rolled it out in 2021.

A portrait of three generations of a Muslim-American family, “I’ll Meet You There” follows Majeed,...

"This is her home, these are her people." Freestyle Digital Media has revealed the first official trailer for an indie drama titled I'll Meet You There, which was originally supposed to premiere during last year's SXSW Film Festival before it was cancelled. A Muslim cop goes undercover at his estranged father's mosque while his daughter hides her passion for a forbidden dance, then uncovering a shocking family secret. From SXSW: "I'll Meet You There defies storytelling conventions and stereotypes in favor of multi-dimensional characters who display their humanity at every turn. Filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal's thoughtful writing and directing have yielded enlightening performances in a story of family and betrayal that is both unique and universal." The film's big cast includes Faran Tahir, Nikita Tewani, Muhammad Qavi Khan, Sheetal Sheth, Shawn Parsons, Andrea Cirie, Nitin Madan, Michael Pemberton, Samrat Chakrabarti, and Rachit Trehan. I screened this last year and it's a mess,...

[Note: In the wake of the fest's cancellation this year, THR is reviewing select South by Southwest entries that elected to premiere digitally.]

The famous quote from 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi about the place beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing provides the title of I'll Meet You There, writer-director Iram Parveen Bilal's domestic drama set in a Pakistani immigrant community in Chicago. But that philosophical foundation can't disguise the soapy plotting or uneven acting in this earnest melodrama about an aspiring ballerina, her widowed cop father and her grandfather, who arrives unannounced from Karachi after ...

[Note: In the wake of the fest's cancellation this year, THR is reviewing select South by Southwest entries that elected to premiere digitally.]

The famous quote from 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi about the place beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing provides the title of I'll Meet You There, writer-director Iram Parveen Bilal's domestic drama set in a Pakistani immigrant community in Chicago. But that philosophical foundation can't disguise the soapy plotting or uneven acting in this earnest melodrama about an aspiring ballerina, her widowed cop father and her grandfather, who arrives unannounced from Karachi after ...

For the first time in its 34-year history, the SXSW Film Festival got cancelled amid coronavirus fears. For an indie filmmaker like me, I’ll Meet You There – Bismil, which was one of only ten films out of thousands to be selected in the narrative competition, was the film of my life; that personal story I was dying to tell, as best as I could, with as little as I had. The film that took a decade to decide to really shoot. The film that faced hundreds of rejections before one yes. Being in competition at a world-renowned festival like SXSW is not […]...

For the first time in its 34-year history, the SXSW Film Festival got cancelled amid coronavirus fears. For an indie filmmaker like me, I’ll Meet You There – Bismil, which was one of only ten films out of thousands to be selected in the narrative competition, was the film of my life; that personal story I was dying to tell, as best as I could, with as little as I had. The film that took a decade to decide to really shoot. The film that faced hundreds of rejections before one yes. Being in competition at a world-renowned festival like SXSW is not […]...

“This was going to a transformative event, and with the cancellation, the filmmakers were left stranded and scrambling.”

SXSW film head Janet Pierson said on Friday (13) that despite the cancellation of the physical festival, staff will ensure all of this year’s competition sections can be judged via screener links.

At time of writing Screen understands almost every filmmaker in every section including the 10 narrative feature and 10 documentary feature competition categories had opted into the plan. Only one filmmaker of a short had not opted in and at time of writing organisers were waiting to hear back from the teams behind two high school shorts.

The L.A. division of Women in Film on Monday announced nine new grantees for its 34th annual Film Finishing Fund.

Two of this year’s recipients have been selected at major film festivals: Sabrina Doyle’s narrative feature “Lorelei” will screen at the Tribeca Film Festival, while Iram Parveen Bilal’s “I’ll Meet You There” was selected for the recently scuttled SXSW fest. Parveen Bilal and “And She Could Be Next” co-director Grace Lee were both previous grantees, in 2012.

The Film Finishing Fund provides cash grants and in-kind production services to complete films that fit the established criteria of being created by, for or about women. The works-in-progress are viewed by a special jury of women in the industry who select the winning films.

Also Read: 15% in 2020?!: Female Directors Show No Gains on This Year's Studio Release Slates

This year’s nine grantees — including four receiving $25,000 grants from...