Film festival: Vasakh kicks off with int’l documentaries

Films focus on aspirations of the young, identity issues and taboos.

LAHORE:

As many as 14 documentaries produced abroad were screened on the first day of the 5th Vasakh Film Festival that began at the Forman Christian College (FCC) University on Monday.

Topics ranged from a raw depiction of gambling and prostitution in Hong Kong to animated movies reflecting the aspirations of women across the globe. It was held at the hall in the Armacost Building.

The event has been organised jointly by the Department of Mass Communication and Interactive Resource Centre (IRC).

A cultural evening will be held to mark the concluding day of the festival. While entry to the screening of the documentaries is free, tickets for the cultural evening are being sold for Rs300 to Rs500. Winners will be announced on the last day. Jury members include: Dr Obaid Baid and Zahid Chaudhry from the Pakistan Television, Omair Mehmood from Express News and director/producer Hafeez Tahir. The winners will be given internship opportunities with renowned filmmakers.

Nasir Sohail, the IRC programme manager, told The Express Tribune that the Indian filmmakers were denied visas.

He said the festival had received entries from Bangladesh, India, Norway, Germany and Iran and 40 entries from universities across Pakistan.

Sohail said he hoped to make the event a travelling exhibition in the future. Universities of Sargodha and Peshawar would likely be taken on board first, he said.

The first day kicked off with an in-house production about the FCCU, followed by screening of short documentaries from other countries. The next two days will be dedicated to the screening of documentaries, produced in Pakistan.

Hira Saeed, a mass communication student, who is part of the media team said she hoped it will attracts more students on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The screening began with an 11-minute Iranian documentary titled An-aaks (meaning reflections). The documentary was based on the reflections of its subjects. In an aim to highlight the cultural heritage of Iran, the documentary showed its cultural centres called farhangsara, where people learn music and arts.

It was followed by Nahed Mansour’s Measure, an experimental documentary aimed to reflect questions pertaining to one’s identity. The three-minute documentary included a scene where Mansour inserted wooden sticks (spatulas) in her mouth. The film left the audience confused about its meaning.

Fatima Hassani’s animated documentary on aspirations of a young Afghan girl was shown next. Hassani showed aspirations as thought bubbles and documented her desire to study, be married and lead a happy life.

Hong Kong’s Lam See Chit’s 20-minute documentary Twenty Dollars was about prostitution, gambling and drug smuggling in Hong Kong.

Dilemma and Why from Indian filmmakers were also screened on Monday.

To answer the question of why people got angry, Why’s filmmaker had recorded short candid interviews with random people.

None of the filmmakers could personally make it to the festival.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2012.