APakistani animated superhero is heading back to Berlin, and not just for a cameo.
Super Sohni, an animated series tackling child sexual abuse through the story of a fearless young girl, has received special recognition at the 2026 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. The project was selected as part of the Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme, running from February 13 to 18 in Berlin.
The series, produced by cultural non-profit SAMAAJ in collaboration with the German Embassy in Islamabad, introduces what is being described as Pakistan’s first animated superhero dedicated to confronting sexual abuse. But instead of capes and cosmic villains, Super Sohni deals with something far more real — helping children recognise abuse, assert boundaries, and speak up.
By framing the issue within accessible, culturally rooted storytelling, the creators have attempted to open up a space that rarely exists in public discourse.
The project first caught Berlinale’s attention in 2023, when it received the Talents Footprints Mastercard Enablement Award. Three years later, it has returned as one of only two alumni initiatives worldwide selected for recognition based on its continued impact — a notable endorsement for a grassroots Pakistani production operating far from the mainstream animation industry.
Filmmaker and SAMAAJ co-founder Ammar Aziz, who travelled to Berlin to represent the project, emphasised that the politics of Super Sohni extend beyond its storyline.
“We have trained several artists from working-class and marginalised backgrounds to work on this initiative instead of relying on fancy animation studios,” he said. “So there’s something really organic and radical not just about the content, and the form, but about the whole process and ethos of the project.”
Since its launch, the series has been screened in more than 100 schools across Pakistan, reaching thousands of students, parents and educators. It has also travelled beyond Pakistan, with outreach activities in India, Bangladesh and Uganda. In 2022, an episode was screened at the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival in Switzerland — an early sign that the series’ message resonates across borders.
What began as an animated series has, according to its organisers, gradually turned into something larger. The project’s Instagram page receives messages from young girls sharing personal experiences of abuse — a sobering reminder of how widespread and under-reported the issue remains. Those testimonials have pushed the initiative beyond storytelling into community-level advocacy, fostering conversations that many families still struggle to have.
Now, the team is preparing to expand the project’s scope. Sehyr Mirza, founder of SAMAAJ, says a new series is in development — this time focusing on boys.
“While Super Sohni empowered girls to speak up, abuse affecting boys has remained a missing piece in the larger conversation,” she said. “Girls and boys face different sets of challenges in a patriarchal society, and these are often best addressed through distinct approaches rather than a single framework.”
Super Sohni stands out for using animation not merely to entertain, but to equip children with language, awareness and, perhaps most crucially, the confidence to say no.
Whether that translates into long-term systemic change remains to be seen. But for now, a Pakistani superhero created for classrooms rather than cinemas has found herself back on one of the world’s biggest film stages.
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