Mumtaz Hussain

Mumtaz Hussain (born 1954) is a Pakistani-American filmmaker, painter, graphic designer and writer based in New York City. A graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, he later studied graphic design and film-making in New York. He is known for the feature film Art=(Love)² and the short films Soul of Civilization (2003), Inside You (2004), Push Button For (2006) and Butterfly Screams (2007), and has also authored several collections of Urdu short stories.

Early life and education Hussain was born in 1954 in Jhang, Punjab. While at NCA, he was commissioned to paint a seventy-foot mural in central Lahore and to work on the interior of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Palace in Karachi. Other early works include Inside You (2004), based on the poetry of Rumi, Yeh Mera Pakistan Hai (2005), produced for the Pakistani television channel Geo, and Butterfly Screams (2007), a short inspired by the September 11 attacks. In 2025, the Department of Graphic Design at the Punjab University College of Art & Design hosted a seminar titled Film as a Social Statement, which featured a screening of Push Button For and a talk by Hussain. Virus Bomb, which dramatises the experience of victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, was staged at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in Manhattan in October 2022.

Literary works Hussain has published four collections of short stories in Urdu, Gool Ainak ke Peechay (2010), Lafzon Main Tasweerain (2014), Peli Patti Chuna Kum (2020) and Mumtaz Hussain Dian Chuwian Kahinian (2021, in the Gurmukhi script), and an English-language collection, Portrait in Words (2023).

Awards and recognition In October 2024, the J. Luce Foundation also named him an Artist-in-Residence. An M.Phil thesis on his work has been completed at the University of the Punjab.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2003 Soul of Civilization Director, writer Short 2004 Inside You Director, writer Short 2005 Yeh Mera Pakistan Hai Director Short 2006 Push Button For Director, writer Short 2007 Butterfly Screams Director, writer Short 2012 Art=(Love)² Director, writer, producer Feature film

Selected bibliography Gool Ainak ke Peechay (Urdu short stories, 2010) Lafzon Main Tasweerain (Urdu short stories, 2014) Peli Patti Chuna Kum (Urdu short stories, 2020) Mumtaz Hussain Dian Chuwian Kahinian (Punjabi short stories in Gurmukhi, 2021) Portrait in Words (English short stories, 2023)