KARACHI, Nov 29: The 5th KaraFilm Festival will be held from Dec 1 to Dec 11, 2005. This was announced at a press conference held at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs Library on Tuesday. The venues selected for the festival this year include the PIIA auditorium, the Alliance Francaise (open air) and the Iqra University auditorium.

Speaking at the conference, Hasan Zaidi, the festival director and administrator of the KaraFilm Society, said that this time the festival would be the biggest in five years with 150 films, including 39 feature films, 39 documentaries and 75 short films from more than 30 countries. The films that will be making their world premiers include Mubasher Lucman’s Pehla Pehla Pyar and Dubai Return directed by Bimal Roy’s (of Dilip Kumar’s Devdas fame) grandson Aditya Bhattacharya and so forth. The other notable films are Iqbal (opening gala film) Nagesh Kukunoor and Elahe Hiptoola, Mein Ne Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara produced by and starring Anupum Kher, Hazaroon Khwaishein Aisi by Sudhir Mishra, Wallace And Gromit and more.

Mr Zaidi added that tributes would also be paid to the late film actor and comedian par excellence, Rangeela, by showing three of his films as director — Diya Aur Toofan, Dil Aur Darya and Kubra Ashiq — as well as the world premiere of a documentary on him, Death of Comedy.

A seminar on Electronic Media Coverage of the Earthquake will also be a part of the festival this year. The Hollywood film distributors UIP (USA) and Cinepax (Pakistan) have also given four films for screening — Barton Fink, Serenity, Pardes and Kirikou and the Sorceress and the proceeds from these will go towards the relief.

Among the foreign guests expected to make an appearance at the KaraFilm Festival this year include Indians Subhash Ghai, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt, Dino Morea, Emraan Hashmi, Irrfan Khan, Aditya Bhattacharya, German film-maker of Pakistani origin Sikandar Goldau, Director Michael Heath (New Zealand), Angela Lennon (Scotland) and Fatemeh Motamed Arya (Iran) and others. Among the local celebrities, Samina Peerzada, Javaid Sheikh, Nadeem, Meera, Mubasher Lucman, Resham, Zara Sheikh, Ali Tabish along with those belonging to television and the music industry are also expected.

The festival will open on Dec 1 with an inaugural ceremony at the Mohatta Palace Museum. An art exhibit titled Foot by Foot featuring some of the better known artists of Pakistan will accompany the festival at the PIIA venue.

The KaraFilm Festival celebrates both mainstream and unconventional films on an international scale and over the years has come to be known largely due to the participation on Bollywood stars such as Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt, Irrfan Khan and Om Puri. Over the years, the festival has become a marked event in the social calendar that celebrates the art of film-making and one that has significantly revived the dying art of film watching in Pakistan.