LAHORE: Pakistani illustrator, Awais Shaukat, is directing an animated short film highlighting the issue of child labor in the South Asian country. Titled “Under the Blaze”, the movie will focus on children’s struggles working in Pakistan’s brick kiln industry.
Awais, who started his career in digital art at 15, has taken a hands-on approach to the project, drawing inspiration from his visits to various brick kilns, where he observed firsthand challenging conditions faced by child laborers and was motivated to share their stories through animation. The film’s script, written by Omer Bin Safia based on these real-life experiences.
The director observed that the children he met at the kilns were often scared and hid from visitors, fearing consequences. This experience strengthened his belief in the power of animation to bring these hidden stories to light.
Awais Shaukat is listed as the most-viewed individual in Pakistan on Crunchbase, the world’s top business directory site, and also ranks 1st in search results for ‘Pakistani illustrators’ on Google.
The film, currently in pre-production, showcase a traditional 2D animation style, with each frame hand-drawn and individually painted backgrounds. Rafhan Shaukat of Bluelinks Agency is producing the project through Awartsy Animations, based in Lahore.
The character design sketches showcase a style that draws inspiration from Japanese anime director Makoro Shinkai and Studio Ghibli. The film, “Under the Blaze” is expected to make its debut at international film festivals in upcoming year, aiming to raise awareness about the ongoing issue of child labor in the country.
