Profile:

Rahul Aijaz is a writer, filmmaker, producer, and journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan. He has written

directed and produced three short films and he predominantly works in Sindhi language in order to

revive and promote Sindhi cinema in Pakistan. His directorial debut feature film ‘Indus Echoes’ is the first

ever co-production between Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Korea as well as Pakistan’s first Sindhi

feature film in over 28 years.

Indus Echoes had a 15-minute preview session as part of 7th Sindh Literature Festival in December 2024.

The film had its world premiere in Pakistan at Cinepax Cinemas, Karachi on January 16, 2025, and its

international premiere at the Jaipur International Film Festival in India on January 21, 2025. Indus

Echoes is slated to release in cinemas across Pakistan in summer 2025.

In 2020, Aijaz wrote, directed, and produced a short film 'A Train Crosses the Desert', which was

Pakistan's first ever Sindhi film to screen at international film festivals (13 festivals in 8 countries such as

US, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, Turkey and more + over a dozen screenings across different

institutes, art and state organizations, and festivals in several cities in Pakistan). Some of the noteworthy

festival selections are: South Asian International Film Festival (NYC, US), Jaipur International Film Festival

(Jaipur, India) and Kazan International Film Festival (Kazan, Russia).

In 2023, Aijaz began developing his second feature film ‘The Last Ajrak Maker’ at the seven-month long

International Film Business Academy fellowship at the Busan Asian Film School. He pitched the film

during the Busan Asian Contents & Film Market at the festival. He was also selected among 14 Asian

producers to participate in the Asian Producers Network program at the 34th Singapore International

Film Festival 2023. In September 2024, Aijaz’s ‘The Last Ajrak Maker’ was selected among top 12

projects out of more than 100 projects, for the International Pitching at the 20th Kazan International Film

Festival in Tatarstan, Russia.

Since 2019, Aijaz has been a part of several other filmmaking, screenwriting and producing fellowships

such as: Goethe-Institute Pakistan’s Labour in a Single Shot (2024) with Antje Ehmann and Till Passow;

Episodic TV Writing workshops (2022-2023) with Khamosh Pani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar where he

developed a Sindhi-language TV series pilot; ‘Pakistani Cinema: 7 & a Half’ residency program for LBF

Virtual Museum (2022) by Lahore Biennale Foundation and British Council Pakistan where, under the

mentorship of Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, he researched on the representation of Indus River in Sindhi

cinema, Under the mentorship of Sarmad Sultan Khoosat; Goethe-Institute Pakistan’s Film Talents II -

Voices from Pakistan and Afghanistan fellowship (2019-2021) during which he developed two short

films; and a six-months long screenwriting fellowship under Locarno Open Doors and Vidhi Films with

Sabiha Sumar and Cannes 2022 awardee Saim Sadiq.

Aijaz also took part in the Platform BUSAN networking program at the Busan International Film Festival

2022 and 2023.

Besides filmmaking, Aijaz has worked as a culture journalist in South Korea (at the age of 22, Aijaz was

the only working Pakistani journalist in the Southeast Asian country), and Pakistan and has extensively

covered the Pakistani cinema, music, theater, and other creative industries. Known for his film reviews

and interviews, he was also the first to start regular pro-wrestling coverage at a major English daily, The

Express Tribune (2016-2018).

He has written over 900 articles published in local as well as international publications in the US, South

Korea, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan. His interviews with the likes of Anurag Kashyap, Huma Qureshi,

Kalki Koechlin, Euphoria, Jami Mehmood, two of the first Pakistani wrestlers in WWE (Mustafa Ali and

Amir Jordan) as well as many others have been widely read across the country and beyond.

Aijaz has worked with several clients such as Goethe-Institute Pakistan, Red Bull Pakistan, Pepsi and

Velo. He currently runs Film N' Chips Media Productions, a media company he founded in 2021. Since

2018, he has been teaching History of Filmmaking and Content Distribution & Promotion at Institute of

Business Management (IoBM), Karachi. Since February 2025, Aijaz also writes about culture, cinema and 

wrestling for the Express Tribune.

Send a message to aijazrahul@gmail.com