First-ever film festival planned in Quetta

Islamabad: The Asia Peace Film Festival has announced the first-ever film festival at the Baluchistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta, from June 17 to 19.

According to convener for the Asia Peace Film Festival Quetta Edition (2019) Ashraf Kakar, the festival represents the Asian regional experimental cinema in Pakistan. "The APFF Quetta Edition is dedicated to celebrating the creative and diverse credentials of Quetta recognising the city’s placement as a ‘cultural kaleidoscope’ of Balochistan," he told 'The News'. Mr Kakar said Quetta was the vibrant capital of Pakistan’s largest province – Balochistan, with 44% of Pakistan's landmass and 770km long coastline.

He said being a proud custodian of 9000-years old Neolithic Mehragarh civilisation, Balochistan’s premier art of story-telling remains one of the highly acclaimed modes of creative expressions, which made storytelling a literary and musical genre as well as a cultural and entertainment event for the people at large. The festival convener said Quetta was also an inimitable point of creative convergence and a true melting pot of diverse cultures of the province and country.

"To strength the plural, diverse and inclusive identity of Quetta, the APFF will bring together a large number of filmmakers, artists, animators, performers, media wizards, parliamentarians, academics, peace activists and dynamic students of cinematography from all over the country and across Asia," he said.

Mr Kakar said Quetta Edition programme included the screening of the shortlisted films submitted to the competition, display of shortlisted artwork submitted by Asian artists, discussions and interactions with some of the leading Pakistani and Asian filmmakers, directors, actors, film historians, politicians and film and media students, and training and orientation sessions specially designed for film and media students by members of Pakistani and Asian cinema fraternity.

He said the APFF was launched in 2017 in Islamabad and had so far organised follow-up edition in Karachi in 2018 and second annual edition in Islamabad. The convener said the APFF was accepting submissions of short films, documentaries, animations and music videos for the Quetta editions and therefore, artists, filmmakers, and musicians should submit their works at https://filmfreeway.com/AsiaPeaceFilmFestival-QuettaEdition.

The call for artwork submission " art for peace" has been announced and the selected work will be exhibited during Creative Quetta: Asia Peace Film Festival Quetta Edition to be held on 17th-19th June, BUITEMS, Quetta, Balochistan," he said.