We can continue to make prolific yet mind boggling commercial films perhaps in a bid to make big moolah on the box office as Bollywood remains banned but its filmmakers like Kamal Khan, Jawad Sharif and just recently Mahera Omar, who are giving Pakistani films a leg to stand on – in foreign shores.
One case in point is Mahera Omar’s documentary film Pakistan Chowk, which has been selected to screen at DocCINETEKTON International Architecture Film Festival in Peubla, Mexico and at Lund International Architecture Film Festival in Sweden, noted a press statement.
According to the press statement, it is “the story of an urban intervention in Karachi by heritage consultant and architect Marvi Mazhar. Situated in the heart of the historic Arambagh neighbourhood, the once vibrant community space called Pakistan Chowk had in recent years become a favourite jaunt of drug addicts and a dumping ground for trash. On seeing its dilapidated condition, politician Sharmila Faruqi initiated and personally funded the rehabilitation project in 2016.”
“When I heard about Sharmila and Marvi taking on such an important urban intervention, I wanted to make a film about their efforts to engage the local community in taking back ownership of their beloved chowk (public square),” director Mahera Omar said on the matter. “We need such projects to make Karachi a more liveable place again,”
The documentary film premiered at the 12th Istanbul International Architecture and Urban Films Festival in 2018.
Director Mahera Omar has previously directed the award winning documentary, Perween Rahman: The Rebel Optimist, A Garden in Shigar and City by the Sea: The Future of Karachi’s Coastline.
