Just as she’s about to step foot at her first American college party, Saaliha’s world begins to implode; objects that define her Pakistani identity seem to slip away from her, as if overtaken by a greater force. Horror seeps in as she finds herself increasingly isolated in a space overflowing with Mormon relics and an all-white drunken crowd of obnoxious classmates, just as a mysterious stranger invites her to explore her desires.
A brooding landscape, where violence can erupt upon any turn, permeates Fatima Liaqat’s startling and memorable film. Plain Folks viscerally captures the disorienting horror of finding oneself alone and on the outs, within a crowd who may just wish to erase you. Bursting with urgency, Liaqat’s fluid and seductive storytelling attunes us to a tumultuous young psyche yearning for connection and a sense of belonging.
Fatima Liaqat
Fatima Liaqat is a disabled, Pakistani-Utahn writer and director who arrived in the US as an asylee at age 13. A 2021 CAPE New Writers Fellow and 2024 Sundance Episodic Lab Fellow, she previously served as a writer and producer for BuzzFeed Video. Fatima has developed projects with Hillman Grad and Unicorn Island, pitching original series to major networks including HBO and Disney. She has a special affinity for the horror genre.
