Daily Times

Karachi Film Society announced its second edition of Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) which will take place from Friday to Sunday. This year the festival focuses on animated films only. The event will have multiple activities including seminars, talks, workshop and film screenings along with three Pakistan premiers of international productions.

The Karachi Film Society is a non-profit organisation and parent body of PIFF, founded by director and producer Sultana Siddiqui. Other notable members of KFS are Jamil Baig, Ameena Saiyid, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Sirajuddin Aziz, Javed Jabbar, Ronak Lakhani and Sayeeda Leghari. The festival is supported by the Government of Sindh through its Department of Culture.

The activities of the festival include a seminar scheduled to take place on Sunday on the topic, ‘Potential of Animation in Pakistan – Challenges & Opportunities’. Filmmaker Sana Tausif who produced animated film ‘Tik Tok’ in 2018, will be the moderator for the seminar and will be joined by panellists Amyn Farooqui, Daniyal Noorani, Aziz Jindani, Arif Jilani, Imran Ali Dina and Asif Iqbal. The chief guest will be Murtaza Wahab-Advisor to Chief Minister of Sindh on Law, Anti-corruption, Establishment and Information.

Six films will be screened during PiFF: BILAL: A New Breed of Hero (Arif Jilani – producer); ALLAHYAR and the Legend of Markhor (Uzair Zaheer Khan – director, writer & producer); Mary & The Witch’s Flower (English Language producer); Modest Heroes-(Ponoc Short Films Theatre, Volume 1); Kanini & Kanino; created by (Hiromasa Yonebayashi). Life Ain’t Gonna Lose presented by Yoshiyuki Momose, the “right-hand man” to famed animation director Isao Takahata; Invisible drawn and animated by Akihiko Yamashita. The Donkey King (Aziz Jindani – Founder of Talisman Animation Studios and co-producer, co-writer and creative director of The Donkey King) and 3 BAHADUR: Rise of the Warriors (Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy-director, SOC Films).

The Short Films include Global Citizens; Why are sea levels rising; Saif the fisherman and Quaid Se Batein (Daniyal Noorani – Creator).

The Workshop will be conducted by Geoffery Wexler. From his work on Studio Ponoc’s debut feature film ‘Mary and The Witch’s Flower’ to his pursuit of storytelling worthy of Isao Takahata’s masterpiece when producing the English-language version of Studio Ghilbi’s’ Only Yesterday’ will be discussed in the session.