A commendable initiative
http://www.dawn.com/2002/text/ed.htm#2
The Second KaraFilm Festival, organized on a non-commercial basis by a group comprising young Karachi film-makers, cinema enthusiasts and volunteers, concluded in Karachi on Sunday after screening some 75 quality films culled from over 150 entries received from around the world. The films belonged to various genres, including feature, short feature and documentary.
The stated aim of the film festival was a conscious effort on the part of the organizers to create “a (culturally) vibrant Karachi” by offering “a space for creativity to flourish” and reiterating a commitment to imaginative and purposive film-making.
The top-of-the-line entries which bagged this year’s KaraFilm awards came from countries as diverse as New Zealand, Iran, Germany and Pakistan. Other participating countries included the US, UK, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Germany, France, Canada and Japan.
A number of seminars and talks with some of the participating directors, film-makers and script writers who were able to make it to Karachi, were held on the sidelines of the festival. The best part was that all the events were open to the general public, and people vociferously and freely expressed a myriad of opinions on the state of film-making in Pakistan, grilling some of the country’s top-notch commercial film directors.
The encouraging message to emerge from the festival is that if an organized initiative is undertaken, things can get going on the cultural front in spite of the many odds and hurdles that a complete lack of official patronage entails.
The festival is now travelling to Lahore and Islamabad with films some of which address very pertinent contemporary socio-political issues, including the human dimensions of the problems arising out of the 9/11 events.