KARACHI: Consulate General of USA and Arts Council of Pakistan joined hands to organize a panel discussion in order to ponder over the challenges in film industry here and best practices in the US to assist with its growth.
President Arts Council Ahmed Shah welcomed the panelists.
US Consulate’s Public Affairs Officer moderated the session.
{Maria Raquel Bozzi is the Senior Director of Film Education & International Initiatives at Film Independent. In this capacity, she is responsible for conceptualizing, planning, and implementing all of Film Independent’s education curriculum to serve the needs of filmmakers. Under her leadership, the Film Education Department produces over 150 events a year, bringing together over 250 guest speakers representing the best professionals in the independent film community. On the International front, Bozzi has spearheaded several international initiatives for Film Independent (Mexico, France, China, Saudi Arabia, Australia), and is currently leading Global Media Makers, an innovative mentoring program that connects visual storytellers from around the world with leading U.S. entertainment professionals; and Film Arabia, an online film education series to serve aspiring filmmakers in the Arab region.
As an independent filmmaker, her filmography includes the short Instructions for Crying: the documentary Palenque: Un Canto, acclaimed internationally at numerous international film festivals; and The Colombia We Never Left, a television documentary sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, broadcast on HB O Latino. In addition to producing, directing, and editing her own projects, she has also worked as an associate producer for public television documentaries, and as a writer of educational films for Glencoe/McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Publishing companies. Ms. Bozzi has an extensive background in film education. For seven years, she taught film and video production in colleges and universities throughout the Los Angeles area including UCLA, Loyola Marymount University and the University of California, Irvine. She holds an MFA in Film and Television Production from UCLA.}
{Alix has most recently produced VeenaSud’s THE LIE for BLUMHOUSE as well as 1982, an Arabic language film written and directed by Oualid Mouaness, and starring Nadine Labaki. Before that, she produced IT HAPPENED IN L.A., written, starring and directed by Michelle Morgan, which appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT section in 2017. She also produced LAGGIES, starring Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell and Chloe Moretz, which was directed by Lynn Shelton, WHITEBIRD IN A BLIZZARD, starring Shailene Woodley and directed by Gregg Araki, and MAY IN THE SUMMER, all of which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival.
Alix produced WINTER’S BONE, directed by Debra Granik and starring Jennifer Lawrence, which was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. The film also received four Academy Award nominations including best picture, and won the Gotham Award for Bes Picture and two Independent Spirit Awards.
She has served in various producing capacities on films such as the cult comedy SMILEY FACE, directed by Gregg Araki and starring Anna Faris, MARRIED LIFE, directed by Ira Sachs, Neil LaBute’s YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS starring Ben Stiller and GIRL MOST LIKELY starring Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening and directed by Shari Berman and Bob Pulcini. Alix’s first produced movie was SUNDAY, directed by Jonathan Nossiter, which won the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. She worked at Anonymous Content since its inception and is currently an independent producer. }
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At PACC’s Lincoln Corner a round table conference was held. Betterment of Pakistan’s film industry was the theme discussed by Maria and Alix with leading Pakistani filmmakers.
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Talking exclusively to NewsPakistan.TV Maria told about her organization and fellowships offered by it:
“Three years ago our organization was provided with a grant from the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Education & Cultural Affairs to provide the same type of support we’re offering American filmmakers to international filmmakers.
“So we started a program called Global Media Makers three years ago and began serving mid-career filmmakers in the Middle-East. And now we are expanding the program to serve filmmakers in South Asia including Pakistan.’
Who are eligible? “The first requirement for the program is that you have to be a mid-career filmmaker – not a student, not an emerging filmmaker. You have to be someone that has made some work already so that the residency provided to you which is provided in Los Angeles is very intensive and a little bit advanced so you’re going to be meeting professional filmmakers there.
“There are very interactive sessions and mostly dialogues where they get to share ideas and hear from esteemed filmmakers working in the independent industry in the United States. They also get to work with creative developers to develop their projects.
“They need to go with a screenplay that they are developing so that’s another requirement. They have to have a project that they are developing at the moment and the project has to be at the script level, not at the treatment level, not at the idea level, you need to have a script to come.
“They go for 6 weeks and when they return they continue their mentorship through virtual means like Skype and they get to meet with their mentors to get more feedback on their screenplays and get some support on other aspects like pitching or like launching a film in an international festival so we do support them in any way that we can with experts in North America.
“I’ve only been here (in Pakistan) for a week, I have met a lot of filmmakers, distributors and producers. It sounds to me like Pakistan is in a very exciting moment where there’s a resurgence of film-making and that a lot of Pakistani films are being embraced by the Pakistani audiences so for me that is promising.
“You know, to be honest with you. I didn’t have a set image of what Pakistan was. It is a country that I never thought I would visit. I have embraced the opportunity to come here and see the country for myself and most importantly to meet the people of Pakistan who are so friendly, so warm and so engaging.”