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Film Festival 2 to 4June 2016

Luminous Clouds: 3-Day Film Festival at Alliance Francaise de Karachi

SANA MAHMOOD

 

KARACHI: Travelling Film South Asia 2016 in partnership with Alliance Française present a three-day film festival titled Luminous Clouds. This event is an attempt to provide Cross-cultural Insights on South Asia.

The following movies will be screened in the Conference Hall on 2nd, 3rd and 4th of June, 2016.

Man & Nature (3 movies – 2 h 45 m) Thursday, June 2nd Timing: 6:30 pm

Gender & Politics (3 movies-2 h 50 m) Friday, June 3rd Timing: 6:30 pm

Musical Remedies – (3 movies – 4 h) Saturday, June 4th Timing: 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm

 (Refreshment follows Panel Discussion: 8:30 to 9:30 pm)

 

 MAN AND NATURE (DAY 1)

1) I cannot give you my Forest (Courtesy: TFSA)

By Kavita Bahl, Nandan Saxena

Year: 2015

Duration: 45 min

Genre: Documentary

 India is in the news for the fratricidal conflicts between the government and the citizens. Today, monochromatic paradigms of development that have long shed the veneer of being people-centric are being forced on a billion-plus citizens. Eyeing the timber and the minerals, the government is uprooting forest-dwelling communities. They choose to ignore the critical importance of the Forest for food security and the indigenous food eco-systems of these communities. A way of life is under threat.

‘I cannot give you my Forest’ is a poetic window into the relationship of the Kondh Adivasis with the Forest. Against the backdrop of the rape and plunder of community resources by venal Corporations and the Government, the Forest becomes a metaphor for their sovereignty. 

The film unfolds at the pace of their lilting melodies and unhurried conversations. The narrative is theirs; the meta-narrative is also theirs. Filmed in the jungles and villages at Niyamgiri, in southern Odisha, the story is a parable of our times – that rings true for all countries that have forests and people.

2) Three Shamans (Courtesy: TFSA)

 By Adrien Viel, Aurore Laurent

Year: 2014

Duration: 77 min

Genre: Documentary

In the heart of the Himalayan hills, shamans travel through the intangible. Their souls explore the world of spirits and ancestors to relieve human beings from their pain. Each one has their own methods: 3 stories: 3 frames of mind; 3 shamans.

3) A Cloud on the roof of the World

(Courtesy: Institut français)

By Agnès Moreau

 Year: 2010

Duration: 50 min

Genre: Documentary

Here is a scientific investigation of a phenomenon that calls for emergency measures. The air of the Himalayas is “as polluted as in the cities of Europe “: in October 2008, this shocking headline informed the public of the results of atmospheric measurements carried out at more than 5000 meters of altitude, at the foot of the Mount Everest.

GENDER & POLITICS (DAY 2)

4) Accsex (Courtesy: TFSA)

By Shweta Ghosh

Year: 2013

Duration: 52 min

Genre: Documentary

Beautiful, Ugly, Complete, Incomplete, Able, Disabled, Within stifling dichotomies of normal and abnormal, lie millions of women negotiating with their identities. This film explores notions of beauty, the “Ideal body” and sexuality through four storytellers; four women who happen to be persons with disability. Through the lives of Natasha, Sonali, Kanti and Abha, this film foregrounds questions of acceptance, confidence and resistance to the normative. As it turns out, these questions are not too removed from everyday realities of several others, deemed ‘imperfect’ and ‘monstrous’ for not fitting in. Accsex traces the journey of the storytellers as they reclaim agency and the right to unapologetic confidence, sexual expression and happiness.

5) The Poison Thorn (Courtesy: TFSA)

 By Farzana Boby

Year: 2014

 Duration: 40 min

 Genre: Documentary

“The Poison Thorn” revolves around the narratives of three rape survivors of the Bangladesh Liberation war of 1971. Their voices have been resurrected from the agony of silence. This film witnesses the expression of the collective trauma of war and its effects on women. As the pain and `stigma’ of rape kept haunting them long after liberation, they felt that even though the war had ended, another one had begun in their personal lives. Women who fought and survived rape are still struggling to gain a respectable existence in society. They are Birangonas–War heroines– yet they have to fight everyday for social approval. Ranjita Mandal blames patriarchy; Halima Khatun accuses the state, Rama Choudhury negates the idea of violence. They speak to break a silence after 43 long years and through their voices a new part of Bangladesh’s history and identity comes into light. “The Poison Thorn” is a historical document. It counters monolithic nationalist history that people are often forced to accept.

6) “Noor” (Courtesy: Institut français)

By Çağla Zencirci, Guillaume Giovanetti

Year: 2012

Duration: 1h18min

Genre: fiction

Noor wants to be a man. He is no longer part of the Khusras, Pakistan’s transgender community. And he has definitely turned the page of the love affair he had with one of them. Now he has a man’s work in a truck painting center, and he knows that he wants to find a woman who will accept him as he is…

MUSICAL REMEDIES (DAY 3)

7) Brief Life of Insects (Courtesy: TFSA)

By Tarun Bhartiya

Year: 2015

Duration: 22 min

Genre: Documentary

What makes folk music? Is it something frozen and event friendly? In Umpohwin village, a Khasi village of India, Bah Hos Shadap & his friends thresh their paddy and sing.

8) The Journey Within (Duration: 01:26) (Courtesy: TFSA)

By Mian Adnan Ahmad

Year: 2015

Duration: 78 min

Genre: Documentary

Post 9/11 and in the midst of various challenges faced by Pakistan, a quest for self-identity leads the inspirational journey of a music show to help reclaim the rich and vast musical heritage of this region. In doing so The Coke Studio has now become one of the biggest music initiatives from this side of the world, making an impact globally and bringing together unique talents of various cultural backgrounds and genres including but not limited to folk, Sufi, rock, pop and rap music.

9) “Latcho Drom” By Tony Gatlif

 Year: 1993

Duration: 1h45

Genre: documentary, music

The film takes the viewer on a journey west, from India to Spain, with stops along the way, to dramatize Romany’s nomadic culture. Gatlif holds his camera on the elemental essentials of this life: water, the wheel, fire, beasts of burden and of sustenance, colorful clothes, jewelry, musical instruments, song, and dance. Throughout, via song and dance, young and old celebrate, embody, and teach the cultural values of family, journey, love, separateness, and persecution

 

M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.