Malala Yousafzai has plans to underpin Pakistan’s Entertainment Industry

Young Noble Laureate

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani female education activist shared the world’s most prestigious award Noble Peace Price at the age of 17, with the Indian social reformer Kailash Sathyarthi in 2014. She became a Universal icon for her fearless fight for the rights of every child to receive an education against the threat to her life. 

Malala’s Journey into the Entertainment Industry

Malala co-founded the ‘Malala Fund’, a non-profit organization with Shiza Shahid, another social activist from Pakistan. She became an author by becoming a co-author for the book “I Am Malala”, an International best-seller. This book is an autobiography of Malala Yousafzai from a schoolgirl to a Nobel Laureate. In 2015, she was the subject of the documentary “He Named Me Malala” which got shortlisted for the Oscar. This was directed by Davis Guggenheim. This ignited the spirit of indulging in the Entertainment Industry to promote and highlight the rich themes, and significant culture of Pakistan. In 2017, she also published another book “Malala’s Magic Pencil” authored by herself. In 2019, she published the next book “We Are Displaced: True Stories of Refugee Lives” which is about the painful journey of refugees including Malala herself. Her life has been used as a reference in Hollywood movies and promotions like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Zoolander 2, Booksmart, Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse, and We Are Lady Parts”.

She made her first step into the Entertainment Industry by becoming one of the executive producers for the Pakistani movie titled “Joyland”. This movie focuses on characters who defy the traditional binary gender norms, and transgender women’s love which provoked a huge hatred against the movie among the pious followers of the tradition. But “Joyland” became the first movie from Pakistan production to compete in the Cannes Film Festival. This movie received a jury prize.

On September 9, 2024, her debut documentary movie “The Last of the Sea Women” as a producer premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. There she shared her plans of supporting many talents of Pakistan who can uplift the Entertainment Industry.

“I have supported a Pakistani film in the past and I will continue to support all Pakistani artists whenever I get an opportunity. I believe in the potential of our cinema, and I will continue to advocate for it”, she added.