If you watch one film this year, let it be HunDan.
Premiering this week at the Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) in Karachi, HunDan – An Echo of a Dirge isn’t your usual festival darling. It’s the first-ever feature film in the endangered Burushaski language, spoken by only around 50,000 people in the mountains of northern Pakistan. The film is scheduled to release in cinemas nationwide on September 16.
“We came to hunt markhor, but now we’re after each other.”
This line from HunDan cuts to the bone of its stark, folklore-rooted story. Written and directed by Karamat Ali, and produced by Barkat Ali, the film follows shepherds in the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan as they grapple with survival, betrayal, and the harsh beauty of the land they call home.
A Stunning Film in an Endangered Language
Burushaski is one of 72 tongues spoken in Pakistan where Urdu and English often overshadow local languages. A 2014 parliamentary paper flagged ten of these languages as “near extinction.” Today, 27 Pakistani languages are considered endangered. Badeshi, for instance, is now spoken by just three people.
HunDan translates to “Wood & Stone,” grounding its story in the raw elements of Gilgit-Baltistan’s towering landscapes. Ali explores language, land, and culture – and what we lose when we let any of them slip away.
The story tackles climate change, loss of tradition, and the violence we do to ourselves.
It’s also part of a small but growing wave of local language films trying to push back against cultural erasure in Pakistan’s film industry. Earlier this year, Indus Echoes (Sindhu Ji Goonj) became the first Sindhi-language film to release in nearly 30 years. Films in Balochi and Pashto have surfaced too, but they rarely get wide releases.
That’s what makes HunDan matter. it isn’t just a movie to be watched; it’s a reminder that languages carry worlds inside them—and once they’re gone, they don’t come back.
