Karawood International Film Festival draws to a close

Films from France, the UK, US and UAE showcase at four-day event

KARACHI:

The importance of film festivals cannot be underscored. With a dearth of platforms for independent filmmakers, it has now become even more important to highlight the plight of this rare breed of directors.

Keeping this thought in mind, the first ever Karawood International Film Festival (KWIFF) was organised. A plethora of films from Pakistan, India, Iran and America were screened at the four-day festival which ended on Thursday.



Adnan Bashir, Chief Operating Officer of KWIFF, was overwhelmed by the response as the turnout at the event exceeded his expectations, considering that this was the first edition of the event. “It usually takes a while for film festivals to become recognised but luckily the general public and students have shown up to watch all the films that we have been screening,” stated Bashir.

What has been even more heartening for the festival’s organising committee was the fact that most of the movies screened at the festival were either independent or student films. “To see all these student level films, which have been made on a very limited budget and resources, get so much traction and appreciation from the audience is a very good omen for the coming editions of the festival,” he added.



Acknowledging the similarities in the festival’s format with its western counterparts, where independent filmmakers tend to showcase their work to potential distributors, Bashir believed that given the quality of movies and infancy of the program, it would take some time before investors started taking notice of the filmmakers featured at the festival.

“Right now most of the movies that were being screened were either short films or student films. There are very few feature-length movies being shown at KWIFF. But hopefully from next year onwards we are expecting more feature-length indie releases to be previewed on this platform.”

Another great initiative taken by KWIFF was to bring Pakistan’s much ignored regional cinema into the spotlight. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of talent there is in Peshawar and Quetta. Some of the best films we received were from over there. Although most of the filmmakers from these areas were unable to travel to Karachi, the response to their films was awe inspiring.”

With the last few years seeing Pakistani cinema reemerge, even Bollywood actors across the border are starting to take an interest in the Pakistani film industry – which is most evident by how notable film stars, such as Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone and Boman Irani, have shown their support for KIFF. They, among other Bollywood stars, had given their blessings to Karawood film festival in the form of goodwill messages.



“They have seen how Pakistani films have improved over the past few years. Pakistan has now become a major film market for Bollywood and many of these actors were also keen on attending the event but were unable to due to visa issues,” remarked Bashir.

Taking place over a span of four days, some of the movies that were shown at KWIFF included Tamanna, Thora Sa Waqt, Pak Air Force (documentary), Gee Aya Sahab and Beebal. International films from United Kingdom, USA, UAE and France also made the cut, including the likes of Power Rangers, Shark, Abu-Rami, Last Remarks and L’Enigma.

With the event drawing to a close on Thursday, the closing ceremony and awards night for KIFF is slated to take place on Friday, September 18. The event would include live performances by notable Pakistani musicians such as Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar among others and will be attended by a host of celebrities like Humaima Malick, Adnan Siddiqui and Fawad Khan to name a few.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th,  2015.

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