Karawood International Film Festival: a step towards the revival of Pakistani cinema

KWIFF has support from Pakistani as well as Bollywood celebrities

KARACHI: From Bollywood’s Bappi Lehri and Mohit Suri to Pakistan’s Talat Hussain and Deepak Pervani, the Karawood International Film Festival (KWIFF) scheduled for this June has some prominent names on board.

The film festival promises to be a step towards the revival of the Pakistani film industry by providing a platform where filmmakers will bring together movies of all genres including but not limited to feature films, short films, documentaries and animated movies.

KWIFF organisers held a press conference on Friday where they revealed the line-up for the event.

The films will be screened in cinemas in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad and will be followed by the KWIFF Awards on June 6 in Karachi. Twenty-five awards will be given out to filmmakers in five categories: feature film, short film, mid-short film, documentary and animated film.

Filmmakers from India, Turkey, Britain and the US have submitted films to the festival which will also feature celebrity appearances from Pakistan, India, Turkey, Europe and the United States. The jury includes the unmatched Jamal Shah, veteran Talat Hussain, actor-director Moammar Rana, Immu & Shallum Xavier of Fusion fame, stylist Nabila, fashion designer Deepak Pervani, veteran director Saqib Malik and Mohit Suri of Ek Villain fame.

Rehan Malick, PR manager for the Karawood International Film Festival told The Express Tribune that KWIFF will be the first of its kind that features a blend of projects by veteran and amateur filmmakers. "There has been nothing of this scale in Pakistan and we are sure to set landmarks with this festival," he said.

On the launch night that followed the press conference on Friday, legendary qawwal Amjad Sabri left the audience enthralled as he performed in fusion with Asad Khan of Coke Studio fame at an event called 'Be Live'.

Amjad Sabri performing at the KWIFF launch event PHOTO: Sameen Hassan

"This is magic. I haven’t attended a better qawwali night before and this fusion with modern instruments makes it an experience for a lifetime," remarked Ali Soomro, one of the attendees of Be Live.

The opening night also had testimonials from Bollywood’s Bappi Lehri, Vishal from the Vishal Shekhar duo, Mohit Suri, Ali Zafar, Fawad Afzal Khan and Wiqar Khan.