Deep in the grim slums of Machchar Colony in Karachi thrives a vibrant and formidable girls’ gymnastics cohort that competes with teams across the country. Sometimes it brings home medals.

Habiba Nosheen’s masterfully created documentary The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony charts the rise of this affable yet gritty little group of girls from Machchar Colony, battling gender norms, poverty and statelessness to pursue gymnastics.

The documentary opens with one of the gymnasts, Sonia, showcasing her medals, beaming with pride, as she lays them out on the dusty floor where she is sitting. She then carefully double wraps them in a plastic bag for safekeeping.

The documentary chronicles the lives of three girls - Anwara, Sonia and Kiran - born and raised in Machchar Colony. The colony is home to an estimated one million residents. A majority of them are of Bengali origin.

Most of the residents in the community are shrimp peelers, fish cleaners or fishermen. Most of the media coverage on Machchar Colony tends to focus on poverty, the abundance of garbage heaps residents live beside, the lack of clean water and sanitation, or images of children gambling in the streets. One does not hear the chronicles of relentless girls trying to make a name for themselves in girls’ gymnastics in Pakistan.

These girls attend Khel Learning and Recreation Centre, a project of Imkaan Welfare Organisation that focuses on literacy and emotional well- being of children in the area. Through peer-to-peer learning, community-building, sports and foundational education, Khel is fostering an environment that builds confidence, nurtures curiosity and encourages a lifelong love of learning and creativity in these children.

When the girls at Khel saw boys practicing gymnastics, they were inspired and began asking for a place in the programme too. With parental support, the Khel administration was able to create a girls’ gymnastics team, which is now competing on the national level.

While the documentary covers the struggles and activism of these girls, it also provides exposure and learning about the statelessness of some of them, which robs them of opportunities if they dare set foot outside the confines of their community.

Habiba Nosheen’s masterfully created documentary The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony charts the rise of this affable yet gritty little group of girls from Machchar Colony, battling gender norms, poverty and statelessness to pursue gymnastics. 

Under Pakistani citizenship law every child born in Pakistan has a right to citizenship. But this documentary shows that this is not always the case in practice.

Nosheen explains that there are lingering generational issues regarding the statelessness of these children. The children may have been born in Pakistan but their parents and grandparents are Bengalis. Because of this, the children are faced with many hurdles and obstacles.

For these children, obtaining official identity documents is almost impossible. The officials ask for birth certificates of parents as well as grandparents. This complicates the process.

“The laws regarding the rights of a child born in Pakistan are progressive but there is a lot of discrimination in who gets to exercise their rights,” says Nosheen in an exclusive interview, emphasising the day-to-day struggles of these children.

Statelessness impairs work, educational and health opportunities so that the residents of Machchar Colony are unable to break the cycle of poverty and marginalisation. Despite the odds, this little group of defiant girls is reaching for the stars.

None of this would be possible without the fairy godmother-like presence of Tahera Hasan. A human rights lawyer, Hasan is the founder and CEO of Imkaan and the driving force behind the success of the girl gymnasts. From managing legal issues to providing guidance on their personal lives and informing their choices, Hasan plays a key role in their growth and development as gymnasts.

One scene Nosheen hopes will stay with viewers is of the girls at the beach, doing cartwheels, laughing and simply being silly. For her, these moments of play are central to the film’s purpose. “As a storyteller, bringing out the world within these spaces is how you humanise these girls. As a Pakistani, I feel so lucky to have created this film,” she says.

The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony is a vibrant, wholesome and beautifully shot documentary that captures both the everyday lives and struggles of these girls with warmth and dignity. While rooted deeply in Machchar Colony, the documentary speaks to a much wider global audience through its themes of ambition, resilience, gender, class, poverty, statelessness and the courage it takes to dream beyond the confines one is born in.

The author is a freelance journalist based in New York. She tweets @HaneyaHZuberi