- by Mona Khan The Karafilm Festival was held in Karachi on September 7-9, 2001. Its goal was to encourage creativity and vision in Pakistani filmmakers as well as to bring an appreciation of film as art among a wider population. The Independent Film Forum, a grouping of committed young Pakistani filmmakers, coordinated this pioneering festival. The three-day Festival attracted everyone who enjoyed watching films including the "artsy" crowd. The 35mm films shown were divided into four categories: short films, documentaries, medium length films and feature films. Certain excellent films were crowd pullers, like Mehreen Jabbar's Beauty Parlor, Marhoom Colonel Ki Betiyan, and Hasan Zaidi's Raat chali hai jhoom ke. Bani Abidi's Mangoes, a three-minute film from the US about an Indian and Pakistani girl having a patriotic conversation while eating mangoes was amusing. The five minute Pakistani film Mana Hai, by Hamra Abbas, a social commentary of sorts, with the use of graffiti as a medium of expression, was excellent. Signtology, a nine-minute film made by four Indus Valley School students and their teacher, seemed to drag a bit. This well made film, as the name suggests is about the signs of our time and while the images interspersed with an excellent choice of music drove the message home, one felt that it was too long. Mira Hashmi had two entries and her film, Coming Through in Waves, despite being abstract and "experimental" in every sense of the word, was very good. The documentaries: Zaibun Pasha's It Started With a Script, and both of Farhad Nabi's entries, No one Believes the Professor and Nusrat Has Left the Building...But When, deserve special mentioning. Nabi received the award for best documentary. Salima Hashmi's Noorjehan: The Song Remains was one film, which seemed to have elicited the most response. However, both the ardent fans of Noor Jehan and those who just wanted to see the film were disappointed with the film. Shireen Pasha's documentary, Life and Times of a Woman from Oudh: Pyari Hima, while generally appreciated seemed too long. An excellent well-directed documentary: it started with by Nadia Jamil and Taimur Rehman was on discrimination in a classroom. The Shawl directed by India's Muzaffar Ali was another well made and beautifully shot outstanding medium length film. It tells the story of Dulhan Begum and a shawl she has clung on to for most of her life. Upon her death, her friend Agnes discovers the true reason behind the Begum's attachment to the shawl. Mehreen Jabbar's Marhoom Colonel Ki Betiyan tells the story of two sisters trying to cope with their father's death. An adaptation of Mansfield's Daughters of the Late Colonel, this film was a delight to watch because of its excellent dialogue. Yasmeen Ismail and Samina Ahmed's performances as women learning to cope with newfound freedom were outstanding. This film won the award for best cinematography, best-adapted screenplay and best director. A feature length film, Raat Chali He Jhoom Ke by Hasan Zaidi, who also received a special award, was by far the best film. It showed to a packed audience and one hopes that there will be more showings of it in Pakistan. Owais Khan's Reshma to Jaali Hai is the story of Reshma, played by Angeline Malik, who is sold to different men over time by a woman she calls Mai, played by Uzma Gilani, who received the best actress award. The film, which has been shown on a private channel, was well made and had a strong plot with powerful performances. There were two Pakistani mainstream cinema entries: Samina Peerzada's Inteha whose ending left much to be desired, and Syed Noor's Mehndi Walay Hath, which deals with gender bias. Noor's film was thoroughly enjoyable and succeeded in dealing with a somewhat controversial issue in a sensible manner. This festival succeeded in exposing people to the various forms of film making and thereby starting a dialogue on parallel cinema in Pakistan. One hopes more festivals will take place, which can help put Pakistani cinema and independent film making on the world map. |
