Mountain film festival: Documentary about legendary Polish climber awarded

PNCA, PIMFF sign agreement to make the festival regular feature

ISLAMABAD: A documentary about a legendary Polish climber who opened new routes on five of the tallest mountains in Pakistan, won the two-day Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival.

The second festival, organised by the Pakistan National Council of Arts (Pnca), in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Eyebex Films concluded on Tuesday.

The jury comprised veteran artists along with Pnca Director General Jamal Shah and film star Faisal Rehman. The best films in five categories were awarded.

Top spot went to Jurek, about Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka. Award for the best film depicting culture and environment went to “Tashi and the Monk”, about a Buddhist community in Tibet and their acceptance of a traumatised little girl.

Pakistani film about boxer Hussain Shah, the only Pakistani Olympic boxer to win gold, won the best fiction category.

American documentary about climbers in the Yosemite valley, “Valley Uprising” won the audience award. Pangolins in Peril won the best Pakistani documentary film award.

Chairman Pakistan International Mountains Film Festival (PIMFF) Wajahat Malik & co-founder Maryam Cheema stressed the need to give voices from the mountains. Later, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Pnca and PIMFF to make it permanent feature in the future.

Shah lauded the festival team and announced that next year an Islamabad Film festival would be held. He added that efforts are also being made to start a film academy in the capital.

The festival ended with Kalash dance performance by the National Performing Arts Group.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2016.