Asia Peace Film Festival selects films for second edition

Islamabad: The Asia Peace Film Festival announced on Tuesday the results of selection committee slated for the Second Annual Edition.

The APFF is a travelling festival inspired by the nomadic tradition of art, craft and creativity striving to bring filmmaking and peace building communities together creating an interface for a cultural dialogue.

Masoud Soheili, an award-winning Iranian filmmaker, who is associated with the APFF as creative director, said “We received more than 329 submissions in four genres consisting of short films, documentaries, animation and music videos from more than 70 countries, mainly from the Asian region. The APFF-designated regional selection committee has selected 16 animations, 36 short films, 12 documentaries and 14 music videos out of more than 72 hours of run-time."

Yasir Qureshi, executive director of APFF, announced that official selection in the respective genres will be screened in the APFF 2nd edition organized in collaboration with International Student Convention to be held on 12-13th December at Pak-China Friendship Centre, Islamabad.

Qureshi said 10 Pakistani films have also been selected for the second annual edition of APFF 2018.

Amjad Bhatti, Chairman of the Asia Peace Film Festival said, “culture is the key to unlock peace in Asia and film is the medium to initiate a dialogue between diverse cultures and societies.

The second edition of APFF presents a diverse set of creative expressions produced by Asian filmmakers, animators and singers.

While commenting on the process Kamran Durrani, managing director APFF explained that it took about 7 months to complete the whole process from announcement to selection and we are highly encouraged to see such an impressive response by the national and international creative community for participating in the competition.

“The Asia Peace Film Festival maintains its online database at https://filmfreeway.com/AsiaPeaceFilmFestival whereby call for entries is published notifying specific eligibility criteria for the film submission,” Kamran said.

Asharf Kakar, director communication and partnerships, added that the APFF Film Festival is also organising a book launch and panel discussion on “Alternative Cinema in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects”. The book “Journey through Lens” is co-authored by Aijaz Gul and Jamal Sohail.

The book has been reviewed both as a reference and textbook documenting the much-needed cinematic history of Pakistan.

The book launch will be followed by a panel discussion on the challenges and prospects of Pakistani alternative cinema with contemporary film-makers and professionals from the industry.