Pakistani up-and-coming talent Seemab Gul, whose latest film Ghost School will have its European premiere at the Berlinale, has turned to Brussels-based Best Friend Forever to handle international sales for his next film, Haven of Hope.
Haven of Hope, currently in post-production, is scheduled for its world premiere on the festival circuit later this year and will be distributed in France by ARP Selection.
Set in Karachi, the film tells the story of three women living in a shelter – a corps member, a nurse and a security guard – who go out into the world for a day to confront their families and the society that has failed them. The first still from the film (featured above) was released by Best Friend Forever on the eve of the European Film Market.
The cast stars Suhai Abro (My Pure Land), Nimra Bucha (Ms. Marvel), Bakhtawar Mazar (Queen of My Dreams), and Ali Khan (Tehran). Key staff members include editor Alexandra Strauss (“I’m Not Your Negro”);
Gül is in Berlin to present “Ghost School” in the Generations section. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto Festival. Prior to that, her short film “Sandstorm” was screened at Sundance, Venice, and Berlin.
‘Haven of Hope’ is produced by Take Shelter (‘Bunnell & Adama’) and co-produced by Cinelaba (‘Ghost School’), Red Balloon Film (‘Once Upon a Time in Gaza’) and PRPL (‘Tiger Stripes’).
“‘Haven of Hope’ was inspired by real women I met at a shelter in Karachi,” Gul said. “this
This fictional film imagines what would happen if women had to confront their families. ”
Gall said that just as “fiction can help make the impossible possible,” it can also “provide inspiration to create change in the real world.”
Best Friend Forever co-founders Martin Gondre and Charles Bing said the script “depicts a reality that would be unimaginable in 2026.” They said the film stands out as “a great story of female empowerment in the vein of ‘All We Imagine as Right’ and ‘Bunnell & Adama.'”
Best Friend Forever’s EFM productions include Geneviève Droud-de Serre’s Nina Rosa, which will compete at the Berlinale, as well as the Brazilian Japanese animated films Frozen Time and Papaya (both in Berlin’s Generation section), and Patrick Chiha’s documentary A Russian Winter, which will premiere at the Berlinale Panorama.
