PU students perform at film festival ceremony

LAHORE : Punjab University (PU) Department of Performing Arts & Musicology organised a special ceremony in honour of the participants of Nepal and Pakistan of the South Asian Travelling Film Festival.

On this occasion, Incharge Department of Performing Arts & Musicology Israr Chishti, Nepali documentary filmmaker Kanak Mani Dixit, Director Postgraduate Research Centre Prof Dr Ahmad Bilal, Prof Shahnawaz Zaidi, faculty members and a large number of students were present. In the event, the students of Natak Society of the Punjab University College of Art and Design performed street theatre while the students of the Department of Musicology presented music.

In his address, Dr Ahmed Bilal said that he has been working for the South Asian Film Festival for many years and together with them, Matila Film Festival and Kara Film Festival in Pakistan had become great platforms but unfortunately could not run. He said that now in Pakistan with films like Kamli and Zindagi Tamasha, as well as films by new filmmakers, there is hope that this tradition will be restored. Documentary filmmaker from Nepal Kanak Mani Dixit said that the South Asian market is the biggest market in the world in terms of film and culture and the platform of the South Asian Film Festival is in many ways the department of music and performing arts and design, textiles and it can be helpful in finding new opportunities for students in research fields.

Prof Shahnawaz Zaidi said that art and artists are free from the confines of borders and can play a role in Pakistan's economy. Prof Israr Hussain Chishti said that it is good to connect our students with the South Asian film industry.

Later Faryad Nabi, Kanwal Khosat, Asil, Tanzeela Abbasi, Ayesha Bilal and Nadeem Wahid appreciated the art of the students.