Riding Time

The ancient South Asian equestrian sport of Neza Bazi, adopted by British officers during the colonial age, has given rise to two distinct scenes in today’s UK: the posh, tweed-wearing national team; and a rapidly growing Pakistani-British scene that is at the heart of this film. And then there is Jaleal, the son of a white mother and a Pakistani father who plaits horses’ manes and sharpens lances while secretly dreaming of becoming a showjumper. Filmed over three summers in the northern city of Bradford, Riding Time winds its way between the absurd and the profound. Juxtaposing the boisterous play and mucking out in the stables with the pounding hooves and fine kurtas of competition, the film follows its protagonists into a transcendent space between geographies, childhood and adulthood, humans and horses.