From the 2022 Floods to TIFF’s Discovery Programme
The idea for Ghost School was born in the aftermath of the devastating 2022 floods. British-Pakistani writer-director-producer Seemab Gul first planned to make a documentary about the disaster’s impact, but the project grew into a full feature film — one she wrote in ten weeks and shot in just two weeks. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2025, selected for the festival’s Discovery programme, which is reserved for world premieres.
Gul is an independent filmmaker and a graduate of the London Film School, with credits at Locarno Open Doors, Berlinale Talents and the Venice Biennale College. Her short film Sandstorm (2021) won 20 festival awards, and in 2024 she founded Cinelava, a Pakistan-based production company dedicated to arthouse cinema. Since its TIFF premiere, Ghost School has toured more than a dozen international film festivals, picked up a best director award in London, and has been playing in German cinemas since September 2026. In December 2025 it screened at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah in the Families & Children category — the first officially represented Pakistani feature film at the festival, accompanied by a national delegation.
Shot Near Karachi, Blocked in Sindh
The film was shot at Chashma Goth and another village on the outskirts of Karachi. It is an 88-minute fantasy drama touched with magical realism, following ten-year-old Rabia — played by newcomer Nazualiya Arsalan — who sets out to uncover the real reason her village school has suddenly closed. Rumours of jinn possession swirl around the shuttered building, but beneath them lies bureaucratic neglect. Samina Seher plays Rabia’s mother. The story draws on the real phenomenon of Pakistan’s “ghost schools” — closed and abandoned schools in rural areas, often left to rot while salaries and funds keep flowing on paper.
Then came the fight at home. In August, the Sindh censor board — in the very province where the film was shot and where its story is set — refused to clear it for release. On 19 October, the Sindh High Court set aside most of the board’s demanded cuts and ordered it to take a fresh certification decision within ten days, a ruling covered earlier on this site. The federal censor board and the Punjab board both cleared the film without cuts. With distributors backing out, Gul became her own distributor — she financed the film herself and is paying for its distribution.
Releasing Today — Where to Watch
Ghost School opens in cinemas across Pakistan today, Friday 30 October 2026, listed for a nationwide theatrical release. It is not on Netflix or any other streaming service, and no streaming deal has been announced — for now, the cinema is the only place to see it. The release has been planned as a family-friendly theatrical outing, and early festival audiences suggest the story travels well beyond Pakistan’s borders.
For Pakistani cinema, the release matters. This is a rare self-financed arthouse production going wide on its own terms — no studio machinery, no Eid-season blockbuster formula, just a ten-year-old girl, a haunted schoolhouse and a question about who gets to learn. Gul has already announced what comes next: her second feature, Panahgah, inspired by the Edhi Foundation’s women’s shelters.
Sources: Wikipedia and Seemab Gul’s official site
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