ABJD is a four part film series that narrates the otherworldly journeys of Faluda Islam – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s alter-ego. Faluda was a fighter in a great future queer led revolution that liberated the Musilm world from Western and Western-sponsored tyranny, she was killed in a battle and exists now as ghost, zombie, jinn and alien. She appears as each of these beings in each of the four films while simultaneously speaking to figures from resistance past in an attempt to understand her own story.
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This project is heavily inspired by Islamic mysticism and spiritual traditions that speak to loss, memory and resilience. Additionally it is dedicated to Bhutto’s late father, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, a grassroots political activist who was killed outside his home in Karachi Pakistan in 1996.
Artistic Director: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Curatorial Production Manager: Yomna Osman
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (b. Damascus, 1990) is a visual artist, performer and curator. Bhutto’s work resurrects complex histories in the South Asian, South West Asian and North African region. In the process he unpacks the intersections of queerness, Islam, speculative fiction, futurity and environmental degrdeation through a multi-media practice rooted in printmaking, textile work and performance. Bhutto has performed, shown work and curated exhibitions globally, as well as spoken extensively on the intersections of faith, radical thought and futurity at Columbia University, UC Berkeley, NYU, Stanford and the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. Bhutto is currently based in Karachi, Pakistan and received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2016. www.zulfikaralibhuttoart.org
| Performances by:
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jyoti Arvey Crystal Mason Minelle Valjee Gabriele Christian jose e abad Paseeena |
Production Manager:
Humayun Memon Laur Geiger Babar Ali Khokhar Den Mohammad |
Cinematography:
Jamshed Farhad Irani Chani Bockwinkel Asha F. Passalacqua |
Sound Design:
Peekaboo Amman Mushtaq Daniel Panjwaneey Natasha Ejaz Aziz Kazi Ahsan Dhamalir Gabriel Martinez fahad anjum/ elektrik room The Bendaly Family |
Lighting Design:
Humayun Memon Grisel Torres Media Line Khalil Qureshi Shahid Qureshi |
Makeup:
Raja Wasey Zulfikar Ali Bhutto |
Costume and Jewelry design:
Maheen Khan Amin Gulgee Hushidar Mortezaie Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Ibrahim Sonara Master Yousef Laur Geiger |