There are a number of Pakistani films, such as Chalay Thay Saath and Cake to name just two that have had multiple screenings at various international film festivals and have also brought home several awards. The good news is that quite recently three Pakistani films made it to the 71st Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, that kicked off on August 1 and will run till August 11, 2018.
The three films that have made the cut at the festival this year include Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi’s critically acclaimed Zinda Bhaag (2013), a short film by filmmaker and theatre practitioner Hamza Bangash, titled Dia, and a documentary short film 298-C by Nida Mehboob.
While Zinda Bhaag, which is set against the backdrop of illegal immigration and follows the stories of three Pakistani boys, was screened on August 2, Dia, a psychological thriller based on a true story of a girl and the idea of mental illness, had its world premiere yesterday (August 3). The third film 298-C, which will have its world premiere on August 7, is a story of a family from a persecuted minority sect and the discrimination it faces.
Coming back to the event, the Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, it is one of the longest-running film festivals that screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative and documentary, short, avant-garde, and retrospective programmes.
