Madam Kazmi and the Drivers: Film and Conversation with Anca Dimofte

Anca Dimofte (Independent Film Maker) and Ruhi Hamid (BBC filmmaker)

'Madam Kazmi and the drivers' tells the story of the first woman taxi driver in Pakistan and her day-to-day encounters and the realities surrounding them. Zahida Kazmi started to work as a taxi driver in Islamabad in 1992, and she is still the only woman who holds a license to drive a cab in Pakistan. The documentary depicts the complex layers of her personality as she becomes successively a woman, a taxi driver, a leader, a friend, a mother, and even a ‘man’. Moreover, the film goes further than portraying the dynamics of a woman evolving in a patriarchal society and shows how Madam Kazmi exploits her current visibility for control and empowerment. The documentary invites the audience to reflect on the multidimensional aspects of her reality, but also tells a ‘universal story’ of a protagonist whose role evolves constantly depending on the ‘stage’.

What would Zahida Kazmi be like if not a cab driver? And what is her legacy for the new generation of female cab drivers if any in Pakistan? The film tried to create a space for these questions by focusing on Zahida as a house wife and a mother. But it goes further than merely portraying a Muslim woman as a mere victim of patriarchy. It shows a woman able to exploit gender for control and authority and thus, inviting the viewer to the complex reality of Pakistani life.

Anca Dimofte is a young documentary filmmaker from Romania. Her observational documentaries are often uncovering new facets to groups or people misunderstood in society. Her first short documentary enjoyed much interest from industry as it followed a community of Romanian gypsies in London living in abandoned buildings trying to support their families by working as day labourers. Having lived with the group for a couple of  months, Anca was able to create an intimate narrative on  displacement, disillusion and faith as she followed the workers on the streets of London where they waited to be picked up for day construction jobs. She has since worked as an ethnographic filmmaker for Naked Eye Research, as well as a self-shooting researcher for a recent documentary for BBC Four (Storyville). At the moment Anca is working with MAMA Youth Project, a charity where she trains young people from marginalised backgrounds and helps them find meaningful employments in the TV and Film industry. Anca has a MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Royal Holloway University, as well as a BA Law from The American University in Bucharest and a BA in Commerce & Economics from University of Bucharest.

Ruhi Hamid is a filmmaker for the BBC.

Organiser: Gina Heathcote

Contact email: gh21@soas.ac.uk

Contact Tel: 020 7898 4367