Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has made a name for herself internationally but, for the most part, local audiences have had little exposure to her work. All that is now about to change. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Films (SOC Films) has joined hands with Coca Cola to create a six-part documentary series titled Ho Yaqeen, featuring the unsung heroes of Pakistan. The series will be aired once every month on all major television channels in Pakistan.

On May 8, SOC Films and Coca Cola launched the Ho Yaqeen campaign at the Southend Club, and the first film of the series was screened. Filmmaker Hasan Zaidi, writer Bina Shah, singer Zoe Viccaji and designer Safinaz Muneer were just a few of the big names sitting in the audience.

The documentary featured Sabina Khatri, who runs a school for gifted young students in Lyari, and showed her as she engaged with not only her students but the parents as well. After the screening, a tearful Khatri was invited onstage to share a few words and the audience immediately rose to their feet to give her a standing ovation.

Fahad Qadir, the director of public affairs at Coca Cola, explained that the multinational sought to collaborate with Sharmeen since her work promotes a positive image of Pakistan. Qadir also clarified that the project was conceived long before Sharmeen’s Oscar win and that Coca Cola was already familiar with her previous documentaries. The company has the extremely popular Coke Studio to their credit and one hopes that they are equally successful with their Ho Yaqeen campaign.

This article was originally published in the June issue of Newsline under the headline “Highlighting Heroes.”