Pakistani short film 'Noor' secures best health-related film award at Cannes World Film Festival

After successfully receiving worldwide acclamation for the controversial film "Joyland", another Pakistani short film "Noor" drew wide applause while bagging the award for the best health-related film at the online edition of the Cannes World Film Festival.

The short film "Noor" is directed by Umar Adil. 

Adil shared that the film is based on stereotypes associated with weak eyesight and wearing glasses. He said the film causally sheds light on the impact these stereotypes have on children and shows how this pressure affects their personalities.

Adil said it is a very sweet story based through the lens of a girl, Noor, who is a very good student but faces some problems when her eyesight starts to fail.

Pakistani actor — also featured in the film — Sarwat Gilani took to Instagram on Wednesday to the news with her followers in a post in which she captioned, "We won!" tagging her whole team. 

The Cannes World Film Festival announced winners for its January online edition on Monday.

Earlier, Gilani while sharing the news on her official Instagram about the motivation and achievement with her followers had said: "Noor came with a definitive purpose of highlighting a pertinent social issue. I am so happy that our efforts are being recognised for spreading that awareness, spreading that light."

She also added that "teachers and parents are also responsible for the eye care of children so they should make it sure that children are wearing glasses despite of their gender. 

Teachers' role is very important as they are directly observing learning outcomes of children at schools. If there is a child who has problem seeing the board then he/she must get eye check up. Teachers' should be alert, she suggested.

The film is about the stigma associated with wearing glasses, such as one not being encouraged to wear them as they would "look old".The cast of the film includes child star Tanisha Shameem, Sarwat Gilani, Omair Rana, Mizna Waqas and Tasneem Ansari, among others.