First Faiz International Festival to start on 19th

LAHORE
Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif will inaugurate the First Faiz International Festival on 19th of November 2015 organised by the Faiz Foundation Trust in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council at the Alhamra , The Mall, and Flattis , from November 19 to 22.
This was announced by Saleema Hashmi of the Faiz Foundation Trust at a joint press conference held at a local hotel on Thursday.
Saleema, flanked by Moneeza and Adeel Hashmi of the Faiz Foundation Trust, a celebrity on her own right and illustrious daughter of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, revealed that the Festival will include 30 literary/political sessions, five book launches, a Mushaira, four theatre performances, two dance performances , orchestral readings, theatre and puppetry workshops, and activities for children with Uncle Surgam being part of the activities.
Besides performing arts and music, there will be three keynote speakers of the Festival which include famous British Pakistani writer, journalist, filmmaker and intellectual Tariq Ali, eminent Indian Urdu critic, poet and theorist Shamsur Rehman Faruqi and a distinguished Urdu scholar from Russia Dr.Ludmila Vasilyeva.
The most spectacular event of the this four-day long Festival will be the performance of world renowned Indian superstar Naseeruddin Shah as ‘Einstein’ and a performance by Indian singer Sonam Kalra who is famous for her Sufi Kalam recitations and Faiz’s poetry. Besides the Indian shining stars, highly acknowledged Pakistani singers and artists like Tahira Syed, Tina Sani, Ali Sethi, Adeel Hashmi (Also the Secretary and the Treasurer of Faiz Foundation Trust) and Asad Aness will enthrall the spectators of the shows.
A special play by the Ajoka Theater based on the letters of Faiz and Alys Faiz, two Punjabi plays by Najm Hosain Syed (Directed by Huma Safdar) and orchestral readings will be peformed, a puppetry workshop by Farooq Qaisar (Uncle Sargum), a children's session by CLF and a theatre workshop by Pehlaaj will be held.
There will be a galaxy of eminent Indian writers, poets , filmmakers and TV anchors also landing in Lahore for this mega event. The Indian delegation includes filmmaker, poet and artist Muzaffar Ali, Film-writer and Actor Atul Tiwari, TV Anchor Vinod Kumar Dua, Film Director Shilpi Gulati, and writers Annie Zaidi, Dr.Rakhshanda Jalil, Dr.Baran Farooqi, Dr. Mehr Farooqi, Dipa Singh Bagai, Anirudha Bhattacahjee and Pragya Tiwari. Well known Canadian Pakistani authors Dr. Ashfaq Hussain and Dr. Taqi Abedi will also participate in the grand festival. Besides renowned Indian and Pakistani personalities living abroad, world renowned Pakistanis including Intizzar Hussain, Zehra Nigah, Zia Mohyeddin, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Mohsin Hamid, Dr.Asghar Nadeem Syed, Dr.Asif Farrukhi, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Salima Hashmi, Yasmin Hameed, Arshad Mehmud, Irfan Khoost, Sarmad Khoosat , Nadia Jamil, Navid Shahzad, Afzal Ahmad Syed, Ikramullah, Nasim Zehra, Baela jamil, Quddus Mirza, Moneeza Hashmi, Dr. Arfa Syeda Zehra, Ajmal Kamal, Mira Hashmi and last but not the least, Mazhar Jameel will participate in the event.
Luminaries from the field of politics and human rights will also grace the occasion with their presence and these include Chairman Senate of Pakistan Raza Rabbani, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr.Abdul Malik Baloch, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan.Other high profile luminaries include I A Rehman, Abid Hassan Minto, Asma Jahangir, Mehtab Rashid, Bushra Gohar, Dr.Fouzia Saeed, Khawar Mumtaz, Shafqat Mahmood and Dr. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar.
By and large, this mega happening , a blessing in disguise for all the art and peace loving people in general and the Faiz lovers in particular, will also prove to be a harbinger of fresh air in the otherwise stagnant and scary atmosphere prevailed in our beloved country due to well known reasons. Faiz loved peace and Pakistan and was a man of all times and was a man of all seasons”.
The Faiz’s household expressed a great sense of gratitude for Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif for supporting and providing a great help to hold this international event in the provincial metropolis. They hoped that the chief minister Punjab, an ardent fan of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and a man who loves poetry and finer things in life, would certainly go an extra mile to further facilitate and provide financial as well as logistic support for the sake of Faiz, peace and for the love of literature, to this grand Festival.