Annual event: Mountain festival ends

It included screening of foreign films, cultural, dance performances

ISLAMABAD: The two-week long Pakistan Mountain Festival concluded with the screening of international films, cultural and music performances and the mountain youth forum at Lok Virsa on Sunday. The brief concluding ceremony recognised the services of the supporting organisations and individuals.

The festival is an annual event organised by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) to commemorate the importance of the mountains.

This year the festival was supported by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Centre for Culture Development, Gilgit-Baltistan Youth Council and Islamabad Devcom Centennial Leo Club (IDCLC).

The Mountain Cultural Showcase was the last event that comprised an exhibition of paintings by 20 art teachers and display of handicrafts and agricultural products and cultural performances from different regions.

The films screened at the Pakistan Mountain Festival were some of the best selected from the Inkafest International Mountain Film Festival, which takes place in Peru - South-America.

The films screened included El Mostro De Los Andes, produced by Juan Andrés Coriat in 2017. The film is about 31-year-old Victor Rimac, who has dedicated his life to the mountains and his specialty is solo climbing.

After reaching the North Summit of Huandoy (Huaraz) alone and in less than 24 hours, his friends begin calling him "El Mostro Andino". It is a wonderful Peruvian short film about one’s efforts and consistent struggle to achieve the goal.

MSNM, produced in 2017 by another Peruvian producer Mauricio Quintanilla Rodríguez, narrates the story of the journey high above the Peruvian Andes through dramatic clouds and peaks.

Paired with an original score, is a simple yet enchanting glimpse at a magical land.

La Vuelta Al Huascarán is the best short film of Inkafest 2018, produced in 2017 Víctor Jesús – another experienced and skillful producer from Peru. It is about the legendary ‘Return to Huascaran’ to explore the Cordillera Blanca that is at the foot of the highest mountains in Peru.

The film discovers the Andean villages, rich in stories you cannot find written in a book.

The race route passes through the highest and most impressive mountains of our beloved Cordillera Blanca.

For the film, the producer toured sacred sites, artisan villages, diverse ecosystems of Huascarán National Park and quickly learned that the place has several many myths and legends, being a small mortal at the foot of the giant snow-capped, he became exposed to the tremendous power of nature.

It is said that, in ancient times, Huascarán, the highest mountain in the country, was a young mortal who fell in love with the daughter of the god Inti named Huandoy.

Daulaghiri, a film by the Argentinian producer Guillermo Glass, Cristián Harbaruk, has received Ascenso A La Montaña Blanca, the grand prize of Inkafest 2017.

This 72-minute long film describes the adventure of four Argentinian friends, Guillermo, Christian, Sebastián and Darío, decide to make a documentary recounting their long ascent of the Dhaulagiri.

However Darío dies during a solo attempt to reach the summit. After their return, Guillermo will begin to film a second journey on the trail of his expedition companions, in an attempt to work through the questions that have continued to torment him since the day of the accident, and in particular the choices that took them too close to the extreme limit.

Reynaldo – the rainforest hero was produced in 2013 by Crees Foundation. It narrates the story of Reynaldo Ochoa who is an inspiration to the people of Manu in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.

For the past 20 years he has dedicated his life to finding new ways of living in balance with his environment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2018.