A foreign film invasion
Lahore may have been a hub of Pakistani films but this week the city remains in grip of the foreign film fever.
LAHORE:
Lahore may have been a hub of Pakistani films years ago but this week the city remained in grip of the foreign film fever.
The four-day German Film Festival at the National College of Arts (NCA) organised by the Annemarie-Schimmel Haus (German Cultural Centre) pulled in a lot of residents. German films including When We Leave, Valerie, I’ve Never Been Happier, Evet I do, Resist-Intern rebellion and Comrade Couture were shown at the festival.
German director Feo Aladag whose film is Germany’s official entry for the Academy Awards this year came to Lahore for the opening of the festival. “People are quite welcoming here and I like this city,” she told reporters at the premiere.
Lahore, which hadn’t witnessed any major film activity in the past several months, enjoyed the German Film Festival that brought some entertainment to the citizens. “This has been a very good day. A lot of people showed up and I liked the movie. I think such festivals should be organised frequently,” Samina Peerzada said after watching When We Leave by Feo Aladag.
Qasim Ahmad, a resident who also attended the event, said that he had enjoyed the festival a lot. He said, “One had to look at the subtitles which divert one’s attention a little but even then I enjoyed movies that left a mark. When We Leave and I’ve Never Been Happier entertained me a lot”.
A number of filmmaking students at NCA also attended the festival and praised the editing, camera work and technical work in the movies. They said that these movies were based on good scripts and showed that a big budget wasn’t the only factor in producting films
The Annemarie-Schimmel Haus Director Nadia Riaz told The Express Tribune that the festival had been very successful. She said that a lot of people had showed up and enjoyed the festival. “Despite some security concerns and other issues people came out to watch these movies and enjoyed them. It has been a successful festival and we received a lot of compliments from the people,” she said. She said that hopefully the next year the German Cultural Centre would organise the festival at a bigger scale.
Other than the German Film Festival, Lahore will witness screening of a Russian film The Return by the Lahore Film and Literary Club. The film is directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev and is expected to receive a good response from the audiences.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2010.
Lahore may have been a hub of Pakistani films years ago but this week the city remained in grip of the foreign film fever.
The four-day German Film Festival at the National College of Arts (NCA) organised by the Annemarie-Schimmel Haus (German Cultural Centre) pulled in a lot of residents. German films including When We Leave, Valerie, I’ve Never Been Happier, Evet I do, Resist-Intern rebellion and Comrade Couture were shown at the festival.
German director Feo Aladag whose film is Germany’s official entry for the Academy Awards this year came to Lahore for the opening of the festival. “People are quite welcoming here and I like this city,” she told reporters at the premiere.
Lahore, which hadn’t witnessed any major film activity in the past several months, enjoyed the German Film Festival that brought some entertainment to the citizens. “This has been a very good day. A lot of people showed up and I liked the movie. I think such festivals should be organised frequently,” Samina Peerzada said after watching When We Leave by Feo Aladag.
Qasim Ahmad, a resident who also attended the event, said that he had enjoyed the festival a lot. He said, “One had to look at the subtitles which divert one’s attention a little but even then I enjoyed movies that left a mark. When We Leave and I’ve Never Been Happier entertained me a lot”.
A number of filmmaking students at NCA also attended the festival and praised the editing, camera work and technical work in the movies. They said that these movies were based on good scripts and showed that a big budget wasn’t the only factor in producting films
The Annemarie-Schimmel Haus Director Nadia Riaz told The Express Tribune that the festival had been very successful. She said that a lot of people had showed up and enjoyed the festival. “Despite some security concerns and other issues people came out to watch these movies and enjoyed them. It has been a successful festival and we received a lot of compliments from the people,” she said. She said that hopefully the next year the German Cultural Centre would organise the festival at a bigger scale.
Other than the German Film Festival, Lahore will witness screening of a Russian film The Return by the Lahore Film and Literary Club. The film is directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev and is expected to receive a good response from the audiences.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2010.