The Coach360 Brings Independent Filmmakers Together at Karachi Screening Event
On the evening of December 13, 2025, TDF Magnifiscience Center in Karachi became the setting for a different kind of film event. There were no red carpets, no studio banners, and no celebrity appearances arranged by publicists. What filled the hall instead were aspiring filmmakers who had spent months building something from scratch.
The Filmmaking & Beyond screening event marked the culmination of a process that began months earlier with a two-day workshop attended by more than 30 participants. From that cohort, six teams were selected on the basis of their ideas and given the resources to actually execute them. Sony provided camera equipment for production, while The Coach360 allocated funding between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 100,000 per team, covering the costs of bringing each film from concept to completion.
The initiative sits within The Coach360’s broader programme of skill-based opportunities for youth and emerging professionals. Since its founding in 2022, the organisation has positioned itself not as a motivational platform but as an execution-driven one, providing mentorship, funding, and real-world exposure alongside instruction. The decision to fund production directly, rather than leaving participants to source their own resources, was central to how the programme was designed.
Muhammad Burhan Mirza, entrepreneur, angel investor, and co-founder of The Coach360, was among the attendees and played a central role in shaping the initiative’s direction. “This was never meant to be a showcase for its own sake,” he said. “The goal was to give people something real to work on and to walk away with films they actually made. Pakistan has enough workshops that end with certificates. We wanted one that ended with a screening.” His presence alongside industry guests reflected the event’s tone: professional, grounded, and focused on what the work itself demonstrated.
The six completed short films were screened for an audience of media professionals, creative practitioners, and industry figures drawn from across Karachi’s entertainment and media landscape. Imran Azhar, founder of AZ Corp Entertainment, attended alongside Kulsoom Aftab, founder of THEAKADA and a dramatist and director known for championing original content and performer training. Eshah Shakeel, a filmmaker, writer, and Global Media Makers Fellow whose work spans film, web series, and theatre, was also present. Aisha Yousuf, the creator behind the YouTube platform Catchup with Ayesha, rounded out a guest list that cut across entertainment, digital media, and education. The mix was deliberate. Filmmaking & Beyond was not designed to exist in isolation from the industry it aims to feed. Bringing practitioners into the room, as audience members and implicit evaluators, was part of the event’s purpose.
Pakistan’s independent film sector has long operated in the gap between ambition and infrastructure. Filmmakers with the vision and the training often find themselves without funding, equipment access, or the professional networks that translate early work into sustainable careers. Filmmaking & Beyond was built around that specific gap.
By combining structured instruction with Sony’s technical support, production funding from The Coach360, and an industry-attended public screening, the programme attempted to replicate the conditions under which professional filmmakers typically operate. Mirza framed it in terms of what comes next. “What we want to build is a pipeline, not a moment,” he said. “The screening is visible, but what it represents is months of work that most people in this room understand is the hard part.” The result was six completed short films rather than six works in progress.
In a creative economy where independent work is often sidelined by the economics of mainstream production, initiatives that build both skill and platform simultaneously carry particular significance. Filmmaking & Beyond did not promise its participants industry access. It gave them something more negotiable: finished work and a room in which to show it.
The programme appears to have made enough of an impression to warrant a follow-up. Social media posts on Mad for Films suggest that The Coach360 is planning another edition of Filmmaking & Beyond in late 2026, though details have yet to be confirmed. If the first run is anything to go by, the bar for what gets made will only be higher.
Whether the programme expands or evolves, December 13 established a proof of concept. Six films. One evening. An audience that knows what it is looking at. For independent filmmaking in Pakistan, that is not a small thing.
