Lali لالی

Saturday, 25 April at 4 pm at the Stadtkino.

An online Q&A session with director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat is planned after the screening.
The festival will give us four free tickets. The first members to reply will receive them. 

Lali follows Zeba, a young woman married to Sajawal in a traditional Pakistani wedding. What begins as a joyful celebration quickly spirals into chaos when the groom’s mother is accidentally shot during the festivities. Though the injury is minor, it sparks rumors around Zeba—whose three previous suitors all died under mysterious circumstances—possesses dangerous powers, casting a shadow over Sajawal’s safety. Their marriage becomes a volatile terrain where affection, desire, jealousy, distrust, and resentment coexist, as the immature husband and his wife navigate the emotional turbulence within their small house and yard.

While the film vividly evokes the colors, music, architecture, and energy of its Pakistani setting, it avoids reducing the culture to mere spectacle. The director focuses on flawed, scarred characters whose raw, carnal bonds often outweigh social and familial expectations. In this rare dark comedy from Pakistan, Lali portrays the union of a man and a woman as a complex web of power dynamics, using a sharp and engaging tone to reveal how tensions escalate in intimacy and how violence can seep into a relationship.

SARMAD SULTAN KHOOSAT
Born in Lahore and trained in psychology, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s work explores identity, emotion, and social complexity across film, television, and theatre. He was one of the producers of Joyland (2022), which made history as Pakistan’s first official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard. His earlier film Zindagi Tamasha (2019) premiered at Busan, where it won the Kim Jiseok Award and was chosen as Pakistan's entry for Best International Film at the Academy Awards, while Kamli (2022) premiered at Rotterdam. His latest film Lali premiered at Berlinale Panorama 2026.

For more details and tickets, please see https://red-lotus.org/en/film/lali-en/

SAVE THE DATE

5 September 2026

Concert by the Qawwali group Fanna fi Allah.

WUK, Währingerstraße 59, 1090 Wien 

 Now in their 26th year of international touring, Fanna-Fi-Allah is one of the foremost traditional Qawwali ensembles in the world today. With thousands of performances across 50+ countries, they carry the living spirit of Sufi shrine music to global audiences, offering a rare and powerful immersion into this devotional art form.

Led by Tahir Qawwal and supported by a masterful ensemble of tabla, harmonium, and choral vocals, the group remains rooted in the classical Qawwali tradition, without fusion, electronics, or pop crossover.

Each performance is a vibrant expression of spiritual passion, featuring the poetry of Sufi saints such as Amir Khusrau and Baba Farid, delivered through powerful rhythms of clapping, soaring chorus lines, and deep, trance-inducing cycles. The atmosphere often includes whirling Sufi dancing and a communal, ecstatic energy that transcends language or belief. Though born in the Sufi Islamic tradition, this music invites all people, regardless of background, into a shared space of unity and divine love.

For those new to Qawwali, this is a beautiful opportunity to witness the tradition as it has been carried for centuries. For longtime listeners, it’s a continuation of Fanna-Fi-Allah’s dedication to preserving and sharing this sacred music with reverence and vigor.
https://www.bandsintown.com/e/107853593-fanna-fi-allah-sufi-qawwali-at-wuk