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Truth is better than fiction
By Zofeen T. Ebrahim
Wednesday, 21 Jul, 2010
Twenty-five-year-old Prem Lata is quite sure she does not want to be in the directors chair, a coveted position most of her compatriots in filmmaking would give anything to occupy. Instead, she is happy to be a cameraperson or cinematographer.
A graduate of Karachis Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), where she studied media sciences for four years, Lata was among the 30 young Pakistani students selected for an intensive three-month course in filmmaking titled Filmmaking for Social Change.
Participating students hailed from the University of Karachi, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, SZABIST, PAF Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Greenwich University, Iqra University, Karachi School of Arts, Punjab University, Kinnaird College, Beaconhouse National University (BNU), and the National College of Arts (NCA).
The young filmmakers were divided into groups of three or four. Not only was a gender balance ensured, but it was also seen to that each group comprised a healthy socio-economic mix. By gathering a diverse student mix, the course organisers wanted each one of the participants to bring in their own life experiences to feed into the film.
The course culminated with the completion of 11 short films made entirely by the young participants. These premiered at the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF) at the British Museum in May. The LIDF is the United Kingdoms largest documentary festival, spanning 16 days and showcasing more than 130 works from 36 countries.
Having her work screened at the LIDF has made Lata a confident cinema artist. She speaks eloquently about being a cinematographer, and clarifies that it is not purely a technical job. Without a cameraperson, a director is nothing; it is the creativity of the former that brings a directors subject to life, she asserts.
Instilling confidence in the young filmmakers was not the only goal of the course. The idea behind the project was to make young people explore themes and subjects that highlight the daily lives of Pakistanis.
Each eight-to-10-minute documentary produced during the course touches on an important socio-political issue, for example, interfaith tolerance or how food security remains a hidden crisis even though it poses a greater threat than terrorism. One poignant film narrates the story of two survivors of a bomb blast who learn to resume a normal life; yet another touching film focuses on how the family of a bomb blast victim deal with life after their loss.
Lata and her team explored how creativity has flourished and evolved in Karachi since the September 11, 2001, attacks with the opening of the National College of Performing Arts (NAPA), a state-run institute.
Mohammad Zohaib Siddiqui, a third-year student from the University of Karachis Visual Arts Department, presented another film titled Equinox. Our film is about madrassahs, once bastions of knowledge, and now disparagingly referred to as nurseries for terrorists, explains Siddiqui. We wanted to explore when and why madrassahs gained notoriety.
Siddiqui admits that he, like the rest of his group, arrived with preconceived notions about religious seminaries, but were pleasantly surprised to learn that students were receiving a modern as well as Islamic education. In fact, during filming, Siddiqui was dismayed to hear the seminary students say they were looked upon with suspicion wherever they went.
Unlike Lata, Siddiqui wants to be a director because he believes he has all that it takes to be at the helm of a production: artistic talent, lots of patience, and stamina in pursuit of perfection.
The talent of which Siddiqui boasts is apparent in many of the documentaries produced as part of the Filmmaking for Social Change workshop. The films are engaging and make an effort to find a positive angle in the midst of a grim situation. More importantly, all the projects have a human face for the story.
Sarwar Mushtaq, who heads Eckova Productions, the local partner implementing the project in Pakistan, said that the youngsters enjoyed a lot of praise for their commitment and courageousness. An old hand at filmmaking, Mushtaq was present at the screening in London. He relates that the audience was pleasantly surprised by the selection of the subject matter as if seeing seen this side of Pakistani life for the first time. They wanted to know how the students were themselves transformed as a result of the experience, Mushtaq adds.
Mushtaq, who has been mentoring and teaching aspiring filmmakers at Karachi University for some time, believes that there is enough potential among the younger lot to train them for filmmaking, but is disappointed that they lack an international platform to showcase their work. For that reason, he was eager to collaborate with the LIDF.
In fact, Mushtaq is adamant that there is an audience for non-fiction films in Pakistan too, but complains that private television channels have not thought to tap this market. It is the broadcasters who have still not got the message that they have a ready audience, he insists.
For her part, Lata, who is currently working with an established filmmaker, Najaf Bilgrami, is quite optimistic that there is a niche in the local market for what she does. There are, after all, very few cinematographers in this industry with mushrooming private television channels. The quality of work that we see may not be good, but there is work, nevertheless, she says, adding, with trained young professionals, the chances are that quality will improve too.
With all eyes turned to South Asia, and Pakistan in particular, Mushtaq thinks the time is ripe to provide something positive, speaking filmically. There is a lot of attention and pressure and there is a media explosion with rapid demand for content from across the globe. So while we send in the not-so-savoury bits about Pakistan, we can also try to slide in the brighter spots of our country too.
Currently, the youngsters films are being circulated for viewing by the Pakistani diaspora in the UK and others who can identify with the characters shown in the films. The films will be available for online viewing, and will be distributed and screened at schools, colleges, universities, and cultural centres across Pakistan.
This limited release is meant to be the start of something much bigger, though. According to Denise Davies of Eckova, one of the driving goals of the filmmaking project was to provide young Pakistani filmmakers with exposure to the outside world, networking opportunities, the opportunity to meet eminent filmmakers and learn from them, help build their portfolios, connections to distributors.
If the Filmmaking for Social Change course has succeeded in making young filmmakers more visible through their work, then one can look forward to more compelling, accurate, and hyper local documentary films from Pakistan. And that, in and of itself, would be a positive form of social change.
DAWN.COM | Culture | Truth is better than fiction
By Zofeen T. Ebrahim
Wednesday, 21 Jul, 2010
Twenty-five-year-old Prem Lata is quite sure she does not want to be in the directors chair, a coveted position most of her compatriots in filmmaking would give anything to occupy. Instead, she is happy to be a cameraperson or cinematographer.
A graduate of Karachis Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), where she studied media sciences for four years, Lata was among the 30 young Pakistani students selected for an intensive three-month course in filmmaking titled Filmmaking for Social Change.
Participating students hailed from the University of Karachi, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, SZABIST, PAF Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Greenwich University, Iqra University, Karachi School of Arts, Punjab University, Kinnaird College, Beaconhouse National University (BNU), and the National College of Arts (NCA).
The young filmmakers were divided into groups of three or four. Not only was a gender balance ensured, but it was also seen to that each group comprised a healthy socio-economic mix. By gathering a diverse student mix, the course organisers wanted each one of the participants to bring in their own life experiences to feed into the film.
The course culminated with the completion of 11 short films made entirely by the young participants. These premiered at the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF) at the British Museum in May. The LIDF is the United Kingdoms largest documentary festival, spanning 16 days and showcasing more than 130 works from 36 countries.
Having her work screened at the LIDF has made Lata a confident cinema artist. She speaks eloquently about being a cinematographer, and clarifies that it is not purely a technical job. Without a cameraperson, a director is nothing; it is the creativity of the former that brings a directors subject to life, she asserts.
Instilling confidence in the young filmmakers was not the only goal of the course. The idea behind the project was to make young people explore themes and subjects that highlight the daily lives of Pakistanis.
Each eight-to-10-minute documentary produced during the course touches on an important socio-political issue, for example, interfaith tolerance or how food security remains a hidden crisis even though it poses a greater threat than terrorism. One poignant film narrates the story of two survivors of a bomb blast who learn to resume a normal life; yet another touching film focuses on how the family of a bomb blast victim deal with life after their loss.
Lata and her team explored how creativity has flourished and evolved in Karachi since the September 11, 2001, attacks with the opening of the National College of Performing Arts (NAPA), a state-run institute.
Mohammad Zohaib Siddiqui, a third-year student from the University of Karachis Visual Arts Department, presented another film titled Equinox. Our film is about madrassahs, once bastions of knowledge, and now disparagingly referred to as nurseries for terrorists, explains Siddiqui. We wanted to explore when and why madrassahs gained notoriety.
Siddiqui admits that he, like the rest of his group, arrived with preconceived notions about religious seminaries, but were pleasantly surprised to learn that students were receiving a modern as well as Islamic education. In fact, during filming, Siddiqui was dismayed to hear the seminary students say they were looked upon with suspicion wherever they went.
Unlike Lata, Siddiqui wants to be a director because he believes he has all that it takes to be at the helm of a production: artistic talent, lots of patience, and stamina in pursuit of perfection.
The talent of which Siddiqui boasts is apparent in many of the documentaries produced as part of the Filmmaking for Social Change workshop. The films are engaging and make an effort to find a positive angle in the midst of a grim situation. More importantly, all the projects have a human face for the story.
Sarwar Mushtaq, who heads Eckova Productions, the local partner implementing the project in Pakistan, said that the youngsters enjoyed a lot of praise for their commitment and courageousness. An old hand at filmmaking, Mushtaq was present at the screening in London. He relates that the audience was pleasantly surprised by the selection of the subject matter as if seeing seen this side of Pakistani life for the first time. They wanted to know how the students were themselves transformed as a result of the experience, Mushtaq adds.
Mushtaq, who has been mentoring and teaching aspiring filmmakers at Karachi University for some time, believes that there is enough potential among the younger lot to train them for filmmaking, but is disappointed that they lack an international platform to showcase their work. For that reason, he was eager to collaborate with the LIDF.
In fact, Mushtaq is adamant that there is an audience for non-fiction films in Pakistan too, but complains that private television channels have not thought to tap this market. It is the broadcasters who have still not got the message that they have a ready audience, he insists.
For her part, Lata, who is currently working with an established filmmaker, Najaf Bilgrami, is quite optimistic that there is a niche in the local market for what she does. There are, after all, very few cinematographers in this industry with mushrooming private television channels. The quality of work that we see may not be good, but there is work, nevertheless, she says, adding, with trained young professionals, the chances are that quality will improve too.
With all eyes turned to South Asia, and Pakistan in particular, Mushtaq thinks the time is ripe to provide something positive, speaking filmically. There is a lot of attention and pressure and there is a media explosion with rapid demand for content from across the globe. So while we send in the not-so-savoury bits about Pakistan, we can also try to slide in the brighter spots of our country too.
Currently, the youngsters films are being circulated for viewing by the Pakistani diaspora in the UK and others who can identify with the characters shown in the films. The films will be available for online viewing, and will be distributed and screened at schools, colleges, universities, and cultural centres across Pakistan.
This limited release is meant to be the start of something much bigger, though. According to Denise Davies of Eckova, one of the driving goals of the filmmaking project was to provide young Pakistani filmmakers with exposure to the outside world, networking opportunities, the opportunity to meet eminent filmmakers and learn from them, help build their portfolios, connections to distributors.
If the Filmmaking for Social Change course has succeeded in making young filmmakers more visible through their work, then one can look forward to more compelling, accurate, and hyper local documentary films from Pakistan. And that, in and of itself, would be a positive form of social change.
DAWN.COM | Culture | Truth is better than fiction
