CinegmaFilms

Cinegma Films is an independent film production company founded in January 2024 and based in Karachi, Pakistan. Built around a single conviction — that Pakistani stories deserve to be told with precision, ambition, and without compromise — Cinegma Films operates as a creative home for narrative cinema that challenges, moves, and endures.

The name itself is a declaration of intent: Cinema as the medium, Enigma as the irreducible mystery at the heart of every frame. That philosophy shapes every production — from story selection to final color grade.

In its first year of operation, Cinegma Films produced work that screened across 9 countries, earned international recognition at festivals from Canada to India, Scotland to Kosovo, and achieved a theatrical release at Arena Cinemas, Karachi — an exceptional milestone for an independent student-led production company in Pakistan.

Cinegma Films operates across narrative short films, documentary, and is currently developing its first feature-length projects. The company also serves as a production arm for Silverlight Studios under Burrak Organization.

Okay, real talk — before any of the awards, the theatrical release, or the festival runs, we were just a bunch of film students with borrowed gear, too many ideas, and zero budget. This is the stuff we made back in uni, from around our first semester all the way through.

Some of it is rough. Some of it we're honestly still proud of. We shot spec ads because we couldn't afford real clients, recreated scenes from movies we loved, made a one-minute short just to prove we could, and even tried our hand at a talk show. Every single one of these taught us something we still use today. Tap play and see how far we've come.

Karachi-based independent filmmaker Syed Asad Raza Abidi has announced that his debut short film Janjaal (Tussle) has received 14 international awards and 22 official selections at film festivals spanning nine countries. The film, a 24-minute Urdu-language psychological thriller produced under Cinegma Films, screened theatrically at Arena Cinemas, Karachi, in January 2025 — an uncommon milestone for a student-produced Pakistani short film.

The film's most recent honor came at the Toronto Fantasy/Sci-Fi Film Festival 2026, where Janjaal won Best Short Film — placing it among the few Pakistani short films to receive top recognition at a North American genre festival.

The Making of Janjaal. It was still dark when the crew arrived at Sunhera Beach. They had police on the route — a necessary precaution for the early-morning coastal drive on the outskirts of Karachi — but somewhere along the way, the bikes disappeared into the darkness. The crew kept moving. They had no alternative.

What Abidi didn't know yet, standing on that dark beach with his student crew, was that the water wouldn't cooperate. He had researched the location obsessively — multiple visits, conversations with local fishermen, careful study of the tidal patterns. The water was supposed to reach the boats by 7 AM. By 9:30, the boats were still on dry sand.

The water eventually came. They shot the scene. Janjaal — starring veteran Pakistani actor Shamoon Abbasi — went on to win 14 international awards and 22 official festival selections. Screenplay by Ameer Hamza (co-written with Basil Hussain Zaidi), produced by Faizan Ahmed, cinematography by Ghayas Uddin Siddiqui. Every member of the core crew was a student.

Academic Origins. Abidi was in his sixth semester at Indus University Karachi's Film & TV program when he developed Janjaal. Getting Shamoon Abbasi — a well-known face in Pakistani cinema — was a matter of an existing connection and a script that spoke for itself. "He read it and said yes. He's a straightforward person. He responds to the work."

Post-Production & Theatrical Release. Post was the most demanding phase — completed under a fixed university deadline, as cinema screens had been booked for the premiere. Asad directed, edited, color graded, handled VFX, and mixed the film in 5.1 surround sound — a technical scope rarely managed by a single person on a student production. The film screened theatrically on January 5, 2025, before travelling to festivals across Kosovo, Scotland, India, Iran, Spain, the United States, Canada, and Turkey.

Cinegma Films & Future Projects. Currently in production under the Cinegma banner: Zawaal and A Soldier Beside Me.