Women International Film Festival at Islamabad from March 4

ISLAMABAD: “Women Through Film” – a week long Women International Film Festival (WIFF) will start here from March 9 featuring films by female filmmakers at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).

The third edition of the Women International Film Festival is being organized with support of the European Union till March 9 while films by women filmmakers from the EU (Spain, Austria, Italy, Sweden, and Bulgaria) will be screened during the festival.

This year the festival will span six days through a fascinating, insightful, and thought provoking program, curated from the works of female filmmakers from Pakistan and all around the world.

On March 8, to commemorate International Women’s Day, WIFF is organizing an Open Mic Night (after the film screening).

The event is open to local artistes and non-artistes alike who will take to the stage to share and express their views and stories about women and the struggle for equal rights and representation of women.

The performances will be in a variety of mediums to encourage the local talent.

On the final day, March 9, WIFF's headliner event, the short films screening will be held.

After receiving thousands of short films from around the world, the curatorial team selected 14 films to be screened.

The themes for this year are Child Abuse, Helping Hands, and Harassment.

This will be followed by a panel discussion titled ''Fostering Cultural Diplomacy through Cinema'' that will explore the role of film in defining cultural norms and perspectives, accompanied by a live music performance by a local band to add to the festival experience.

After the closing ceremony, a reception has been arranged for our guests to interact with each other.

Women Through Film is a Pakistani-based initiative that aims to encourage and facilitate females to use self-expression and storytelling - through the art of filmmaking - in order to raise their voices, challenge, touch and inspire audiences and create social change.

This event is aimed to enhance these skills and give our filmmakers a platform to display their work on an international forum, said the organizers of WIFF which is a community that caters to women specifically.