Film festival at PNCA

Islamabad: The Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Embassy of Switzerland and Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) joined hands on January 23 to bring Open Doors talk by Sophia Bourdon, Head of Open Doors Locarno Film Festival in PNCA.

Sophie Bourdon shares an experience of twenty-five years in international film sales, training, film festivals and joint productions. She visited Pakistan Last year. This year, she was in Karachi and Peshawar before her session here at PNCA.

Sophie Bourdon began her lecture with the screening of a short film about Locarno Film festival. She then went on to describe film and today's Europe with thirty countries, speaking different languages, belonging and carrying different cultural values and traditions.

Open Doors is an attempt to bridge that in Europe and around he world. Switzerland with a population of only ten million has a hard task to do that through Locarno Film festival.

Compare that with our over two hundred million bulge. Locarno film festival participation includes over one hundred eighty features, shorts and documentaries from sixty countries. The major events of the festival are held open air in the city square with hills and lakes around- a summer resort in the month of August.

The festival holds a special place for creative art films. It also looks for new talent (first film of the director). The leopard with yellow and black is the logo of the event seen around the city prominently during the festival season.

2016-2018 Open Doors focus on films and filmmakers from Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). Pakistan was represented last year by film " Barzakh: Between Heaven and Hell" about vanishing traditions of film industry and what is gone from silver screen forever.

Sophia Bourdon encouraged upcoming and young film makers to step forward and enter Locarno Film festival's three parallel activities: Open Door Hub, Open Door Lab and Open Door Screenings. This would provide international exposure to our films and film makers. The film makers would meet European and international partners, take part in co-production negations, receive financial grants, get advice and guidance for development of their projects and work with distinguished international film professionals to improve their artistic, technical and professional skills.

The screenings would unspool shorts and features for both film audiences and professionals from the trade. Sophia Bourdon ended her talk by advising Filmmakers to go for strong stories with basic human appeal and interest which could touch and appeal international audiences.

This should not be done as quickies in days or weeks but indefinite long hours with labour of love. Stories which must form core of every film, be it feature, short or documentary genre. The lecture was followed by Q&A session where film students were interested to know more about student participation in international film festivals, requirements for entering their work and funding prospects. —aijazzgul@gmail.com