Nueplex Film Festival offers platform to young directors to showcase talent

A film festival featuring short films by young and independent filmmakers opened at the Nueplex Cinemas on Friday.

The organisers of the Nueplex Film Festival said it was a three-day event to celebrate of young and independent filmmakers trying to create cinematic magic despite limited experience and resources.

The event is the brainchild of businesswoman Tooba J Baig, who is also an aspiring filmmaker and the project director of the film festival. According to the organisers, the goal of the festival is to bridge the gap between unexplored talent and the Pakistani film industry. Most of the directors being featured are in their twenties, and are film and media students enrolled at universities.

These directors often remain untapped while they struggle to find their way into the Pakistani film industry due to lack of opportunities, the organisers said. “Through this festival, we are giving aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to connect with established members of our film fraternity,” they added.

A total of 19 short films, which are between seven and 27 minutes long, are to be screened in the first two days of the festival. These films will be judged by a jury, including director Nadeem Baig, actor Humayun Saeed, writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah, writer Bee Gul and director Sirajul Haq.

On the third and last day of the festival, the jury will announce nine awards in the categories of best film, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay, best sound design, best cinematography, best editing and best production design. The three-day event explores a wide range of unexplored genres in films and also provides emerging female directors an opportunity to showcase their work in a male-dominated industry, the organisers said.

On the first day of the festival, nine short films were screened. The first movie was titled Discarded. It was a psychological thriller directed by Rohail Ahmed. The short film revolved around the life of an eccentric person.

The title of the second film was Circus. Directed by Mohsin Tariq, it revolved around the life of a roadside mascot costume artist who hoped for a change in his monotonous life as the circus returned to his city.

The third movie, Cardiac Arrest, was an action sci-fi piece directed by Ammar Raza. The film told the story of a retired agent who is haunted by his past and is compelled to go on a last mission when a deadly virus threatens global safety after a new world order comes into effect. The fourth production screened at the festival was Barakh, a psychological drama directed by Hassan Ibrahim. It was about two people, Abdullah and Khudabaksh, who embark on a fateful journey marked by grief, guilt and the unknown, forging a bond of understanding and support as they confront their own mortality.

The fifth movie was named Shikray Ka Gudda. It was a fantasy drama directed by Subtain Abbas. In the movie, seven-year-old Ali tries to explore his own truth which is based on a lie. The sixth movie was Reverie, a surreal cinema piece directed by Sharmeen Ali. In it, a woman returns to her childhood home, confronting buried memories and deeply embedded denial, and ultimately finds acceptance in a place she did not expect.

The seventh movie was titled Ticket to Paradise, a drama directed by Owais Hameed. In the movie, a person belonging to Karachi’s Bengali community tries to fulfil his parents lifetime wish for Umrah, but things do not go as planned.

The eighth movie was Haibat, a drama directed by Ashar Khalid. The film was based on the life of Ayesha whose sudden change in mood quickly turns a sweet moment into something uncomfortable.

The ninth and the last movie of the day was called Sentinal Jet, a sci-fi film directed by Zain Ali Qazi. The movie showcased a world ruled by androids, in which Silas Jet tries to unravel the truth of his lover’s past. The festival is open for the public free of charge. It runs from 3pm to 7pm at the Nueplex Cinemas in Defence Housing Authority’s Phase 8.