ISLAMABAD: The first Asia Peace Film Festival concluded on Wednesday late evening amid joy and tears. The award winners were overwhelmed by the sudden announcements from the Juries while some international delegates carried away by their emotions as they delivered their final speeches at the closing ceremony. Federal Secretary for Information Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera was the chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Prosperity comes from peace and we need to focus on developing peace initiatives across Asia to harness social harmony and economic growth.” Sukhera said the success of the festival showed that Pakistan could lead large-scale initiatives and also could host international delegates without any doubts and fears. Despite all rumours and fake projections by some of the foreign media about Pakistan, the country is taking its place on the globe. He said according to the Asian Development Bank report the 21st is the century of Asia in terms of growth and prosperity where all Asian countries could contribute. For communication and awareness-raising, he said, what could be the better media than the film. In the category of short films, Marry Mother (Afghanistan), Water (Afghanistan), and Sa’ad’s olive tree (Iraq) were declared the best films. The Chinese documentary ‘Long Yearning’ was declared the best while an animation film from Japan ‘My story of motorbike’ won the award. The other best animations were The Edge (Russia), The Tree (South Korea), The Box (Turkey) and the Impulse (South Korea). The Iranian film ‘In the Mediterranean Arm’ won the best in the micromentary category. The other nominations were Playing House (Turkey), Cube (Iran), Hanging (Iran), Chirapajas (Russia) and Golden Egg (Singapore). Every winner was also granted with a cash prize of US$2000 while a film fund was also established to provide US$10,000 to support those filmmakers who could not execute their ideas due to lack of funds. PNCA Director General Syed Jamal Shah said cinema, both narrative and documentary, is probably the most accessible and effective vehicle for promoting social change in the world because it can address important social and cultural issues while at the same time entertaining people. He said it has the unique ability to reach mass audiences that no other form of communication or art can match and is equipped with powerful tools to engage people into a collective that, informs, transforms and shapes the public mind. He said, being a collaborative art form, cinema employs acting, music, choreography, writing, photography geography and architecture to create dramatic visual effects, synthetic dreams, counterfeit emotions and preconceived spontaneity to tell stories. It moves people emotionally and intellectually and appeals all categories of intelligence. Cinema has proven itself to be the best vehicle for the preservation of the cultural narratives of the land and for highlighting people’s aspirations, dreams, struggles and achievements. The international delegates said almost all the countries in Asia have the similar problems. The cinema can bring the Asian societies closer and together to fight the challenges being faced by the most populous continent. Over a dozen delegates spoke of their aspirations for the peace and acceptance of differences to live together in a harmonised manner. Those who spoke on the occasion included Komeil Soheili, Kim Jooyoung, Nikkin Loke Sau Mui, Liguer Tu, Min Min Hein, Hassnain Imran Hani, Boopathy Wickramage, Merve Cirisoglu Cotur, Fatemeh Hassanzadeh, Kamboziya Partovi, Nasrin Moradi, Hamid Reza Soheili, Mariya Saeed, Sahraa Karimi, Syed Jala Rohani, Anne Hellen Geroe Demy and Amir Masoud Soheili. Sahra Karimi, one of the distinguished filmmakers from Afghanistan, said politics have its own drawbacks and it does not does not show the real face of the society. “Art has the capacity to reflect the problems and educate the people about the solutions we need for our societies. The documentary makers shall be the social activists so that they could sow the seeds of change through their films.” The Malaysian filmmaker Abdul Wahab said the APFF is the very important moment in the Asian timeline, and it would define a new narrative in the context of Pakistan and peace. He suggestive to have more films and respective literature to create better understanding of the challenges we are facing. Published in Daily Times, September 22nd 2017.