Sana Zahra Jafri is a rising Pakistani filmmaker whose work explores complex stories through a vital South Asian female lens. Jafri brings eight years of experience to her craft, having already made her mark as a co-producer on the critically acclaimed Joyland (Cannes 2022) and as the writer/producer on Yasmeen’s Element (SXSW 2024). Now based in Toronto, Jafri is actively developing her debut feature as a writer-director.
Her latest short is the crowdfunded Permanent Guest, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film centres on 26-year-old Fatin (Rasti Farooq) in Lahore, whose life with her mother, Yasmeen (Nadia Afgan), is upended by the arrival of her 70-year-old uncle (“taya”), Shabeer (Salman Shahid). Though deeply uncomfortable, Fatin is expected to honour her family duty by tending to Shabeer, even as she is forced to confront the chilling reality that she is caring for her past abuser.
With Permanent Guest, Jafri aims to juxtapose two generations: one the rigidly clings to a culture of silence and another that is quietly but determinedly struggling to break free from this oppression. The film deliberately delves into the internalized misogyny of the older generation in South Asian and the subtle resistance of younger women within the same household, all while examining the harrowing issue of childhood sexual abuse within families. Permanent Guest also serves as a proof of concept for Jafri’s upcoming feature, Scattered Rain, highlights the lifelong impact on survivors whose voices have been systematically silenced.
In my conversation with Jafri, I shared a personal approach to understanding her work: I watched Permanent Guest with two South Asian women from different generations. As a South Asian male millennial, this exercise allowed me to gain crucial insights into the lived experiences the film explores, setting the stage for a powerful discussion on generational silence and trauma.
The film’s exploration of generational silence was immediately evident through my family’s reaction. My mother, having lived through decades of cultural conditioning, simply accepted the themes of harassment and abuse as “normal” or “par for the course.” Her casual reaction was starkly contrasted by her excitement over sugarcane in the film, which brought back pleasant childhood memories. Conversely, my girlfriend and I gave little thought to the sugarcane, focusing instead on our disappointment with the older generation’s inaction. This difference in focus strongly reinforced the film’s theme of normalization, a reality Jafri herself affirmed by noting her mother had normalized street harassment as “just part of being a woman.”
The sad cultural expectation is that women are expected to act “normal” when confronted with toxic behaviour and silence is maintained to “keep the peace,” and make everyone else (mostly the men) comfortable, despite the immense personal trauma it causes.
Permanent Guest also touches in the hypocrisy of patriarchal convenience – as seen when Fatin’s father flips gender roles to suit his own needs, allowing his daughter to be a “chauffeur” for his brother because “she’s like a son.” Jafri explains that women are often given a “false sense of control” or superficial freedoms, but only as long as their actions do not challenge the status quo, the family stem, or the culture.
The false sense of control in the hands of the decision makers. “They’re going to give freedom to us by saying, “Oh, we let you do everything!” So, these gender roles are allowed to be flipped when it serves the men.
Jafri’s decision to make Permanent Guest was fueled by her own personal experience and the desire to tell a story about the realities of survivors without “dramatizing our traumas to gain empathy,” and initially felt pressure from readers of her script who suggested that the film needed to be more dramatic. “Oftentimes, survivors don’t have the privilege to speak up or stand up for themselves. You even end up looking at that person in a certain way because of years of conditioning and just letting things go.”
Permanent Guest is a precursor to a feature that Jafri has been developing at Film Independent since 2023 and credits the program and her peers for helping her overcome a significant struggle with imposter syndrome and build the confidence to direct.
As an experienced casting director, Jafri skipped general auditions for the lead roles and went with her strong intuition and instinct. Jafri had worked with Rasti Farooq (Fatin) even before Joyland and felt a strong connection due to their similar family dynamics and backgrounds – both their fathers were government officers. “With the kind of houses we’ve both grown up in, I knew that Rasti would get it.”
As for Yasmeen – Fatin’s mother – Jafri cast Pakistani veteran actor Nadia Afgan, “who is a survivor herself.” It was challenging for Afgan to play the oppressor rather than the oppressed, but Jafri felt she was the only one who could truly understand the role. They conducted workshops focusing on character backstories rather than acting out scenes, which Jafri prefers, to let the performance come from within.
Jafri cast Salman Shahid as the uncle. Also, a veteran actor, having worked in stage plays and films in both Lollywood and Bollywood, Shahid initially questioned the lack of drama in the script. However, after a long conversation at his house with Jafri, during which his wife emphatically told him, “He had to do this film,” helped convince him. Jafri did blocking rehearsals with him, especially for the scene requiring a fall, which made her very nervous due to his industry status. Jafri noted the kindness of the actors who “behaved like students” despite their experience or status.
With Jafri’s script and direction, these three performances will leave viewers eagerly anticipating the full feature. While the script is complete, Jafri plans to rewrite it with co-writer Maggie Briggs (who also co-wrote Joyland). The feature has also been through international labs like Film Independent, Rotterdam, and L’atelier Cinéfondation (Paris) and Jafri, who recently received her PR status in Canada, is actively seeking funding through avenues like CFC, Telefilm, and Ontario creative grants.
In discussing the film’s final, lingering images, Jafri brought powerful clarity to the deeper meaning behind her work. Jafri confirmed that my interpretation about the title itself, “Permanent Guest,” is not about the uncle’s visit, but the insidious forces that reside permanently within the household: trauma, generational trauma, and patriarchy. “The film is not a snapshot of a single day, but a capture of the persistent atmosphere within those four walls.”
This oppressive atmosphere culminates in the short’s final scenes, where our protagonist is shown lost in a sea of dancing men. For Jafri, this visual symbolizes the daily reality for many women who are being sidelined and forced to “blend in and become invisible” so that the men around them can “live in peace.” She deliberately chose this subtle, unresolved ending to remain true to the experiences of many survivors, who, conditioned by years of silence, often do not or cannot speak up or act out.”
Permanent Guest is a challenging, necessary film that asks audiences to look beyond dramatic action and recognize the quiet, everyday struggle for freedom. It’s a powerful conversation starter, one that can continue when Jafri releases her feature-length follow-up, Scattered Rain. This is a story that is far from over.
