Make it Look Real (Aus der Reihe "24FPS – Fotografie im Film")

› Leipzig Premiere

“It has to look real,” the customers of a Pakistani photo studio urge the photographer. They want pictures of themselves with weapons or on motorcycles—things they don’t actually own. So their photos are superimposed onto stock images: a lie for sale that simultaneously reveals genuine dreams.

Photojournalist Danial Shah uses the false to make the true visible. While a photographer retouches images, they talk about colorism, the desire to emigrate, and the genocide against the Hazara.

One makes a living from fake photos; the other sells realistic images to newspapers like The New York Times. Despite their contrasting approaches to reality, the boundaries blur: They point their cameras at each other—and thus become the subject of each other’s work.

Pakistan, Belgium, Netherlands 2024, 68 min, Pashto, Urdu, Hazargi Original version with English subtitles | FSK: 12 (Self-assessment)
Director: Danial Shah | Starring: Muhammad Sakhi