Arfat Sheikh knew he wanted to humanize Kashmiri people with his first feature film, “Saffron Kingdom.”
Making the independent film was another journey. Sheikh, a U.S.-based Kashmiri filmmaker, shot his film on a $1 million budget around Metro Atlanta. “Saffron Kingdom” explores the Kashmir conflict through a family’s journey from their home in the 1990s to Atlanta in 2019.
Today, India, Pakistan and China all claim the Kashmir region. It’s been the site of political unrest and military control for years, with an armed insurgency against Indian rule and a mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the 1990s.
“Saffron Kingdom” follows Masrat and her son Rizwan as they navigate the trauma following their father’s abduction amid political unrest in Kashmir. It’s set in part in Atlanta after they immigrated to the United States and is based in part on his own life. Sheikh’s father, noted singer Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, disappeared while traveling with his daughter in 2003. The police said he fell off the train and died. His family maintains it was an enforced police disappearance and killing.
“It is, at the core of it, a humanistic approach to displacement and the immigration experience,” Sheikh said.
Sheikh lensed the film over 20 days across Metro Atlanta, particularly in a Dunwoody home and different spots around Georgia State University. The decision was, in part, practical. As a master’s student at the Georgia State University School of Film, Media and Theatre, he knew the city had “top-notch production resources.”
It was also a necessity. Sheikh couldn’t shoot in Kashmir, where military control and political conflict create strict restrictions around filming and public speech. He would face major repercussions for telling the story of “Saffron Kingdom.” The only footage shot in Kashmir was done covertly by a local production company and quietly sent stateside.
But the location also made sense narratively. Sheikh has lived in several cities since leaving Kashmir but said if there’s a “home in America,” it would likely be Atlanta. The metro area also has a high immigrant population — the 11th largest in the country.
“It made a lot of sense because, in the script, you have seen these people be displaced,” Sheikh said. “But where do they land in America? They land here in Atlanta.”
Rather than write around the location, he wanted Atlanta to be part of the film.
“The film only goes into Kashmir in the 1990s for 16 or 17 minutes,” Sheikh said. “The rest of it is all in Atlanta; it’s a diasporic angle.”
To keep the diasporic angle, Sheikh reached out to the Kashmiri diaspora living in Atlanta. He said it’s a small community of only 200 to 300 people. But some were still dedicated to helping. One man offered up his home as a filming location.
Still, the project came with major risks for people of Kashmiri heritage. People outside of the region still faced repercussions. Sheikh said he “signed up for it” while making the film, but strict military rule requires people to gain permission to visit Kashmir. If they’re involved in advocacy — much less a film — that permission can disappear.
“It was like, okay, we won’t be able to go back home,” Sheikh said.
That’s how the film landed an all-non-Kashmiri cast. Sheikh opened up the casting call to “people from the Middle East,” and Indian actors. He worried about casting Indian actors, given the country’s role in controlling Kashmir. But the director said: “Everybody did their research.”
“Minorities came together to tell the story,” Sheikh said.
He gathered a diverse crew of Black filmmakers, Latinos, women, LGBTQ+ crew members and more. He got a language coach, too, since the actors couldn’t speak Kashmiri.
“They’re not going to get it 100 percent correct, but I don’t care,” Sheikh said.
The director, writer and producer continued, “I don’t know if Kashmir is going to get to see this anyway.”
Sheikh remains optimistic about the film’s global appeal. He said it speaks to the “universal” aspects of trauma, colonialism and control across countries like Sudan, Ukraine and Palestine. He hopes the movie can be a call to action that helps create awareness about Kashmir.
“It wasn’t just a responsibility,” Sheikh said. “I was representing my people, so I had an extra topping to my stress that I had to be authentic and tell the story in the most correct way.”
As a U.S. film, “Saffron Kingdom” has seen success on the festival circuit. It was selected for the Rome International Film Festival 2024, ARFF Berlin International Film Festival and Florida South Asian Film Festival. It also won at the LA Film & Documentary Awards and Wake Forest Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in more festivals.
Sheikh said the success has been “overwhelming,” but he’s looking to the future. He aims to get “Saffron Kingdom” a distributor that can provide a theatrical release.
“I think people are ready to hear a lot of other stories,” Sheikh said.
The trailer for “Saffron Kingdom” is linked below.
Saffron Kingdom looks great! Hope to see wide release soon.