KARACHI: The four-day Lyari Film Festival ended on Saturday evening in the Rangoonwala Hall on a celebratory note as organisers pledged to make it an annual and bigger event. The event culminated in an award-giving ceremony which was divided into two parts: one was for the filmmakers of Lyari and the other for those who belonged to other parts of Karachi.

The best feature film awards went to ‘Mithu Rickshaw Wala’ (Lyari) and ‘Chenak’ (Karachi). ‘Salman’ bagged the best short film award (Lyari) with ‘Sheermal’ (Karachi). The two best documentaries were ‘Wheels’ (Lyari) and ‘Masters of the Sky’ (Karachi).

Earlier, the day started off with a feature film, ‘Nadan Parindey’, directed by Saood Albaloshi. The one-hour long movie tells the tale of three young friends who, belonging to lower middle class families, find it difficult to make ends meet. Obtaining their masters’ degrees fills them with the hope that things will now look up. But once they start looking for jobs, they discover that nepotism and corruption are rife in society and it’s not easy for them to land themselves decent jobs. Consequently, they decide to rob a bank and from that point onwards the situation takes an ugly turn.

It has to be said that despite the amateurishness the acting department and a few continuity jumps, the filmmaker, Saood, seems like an extremely talented young man. The way he shot the climax indicated that with a little bit of experience aided by a professional creative team, he can go places.

Next up was 10-minute short film ‘Mongya’ directed by Alyna Faruqi, a Karachi University student. It was a nice little effort revolving around the issue of colour blindness, showing the director’s penchant for storytelling that’s not linear. The only thing that was a bit disconcerting about the movie is inadequate audio balancing, which could be overlooked because ‘Mongya’ was shot outdoors.

‘The Hungry Old Man’ directed by Adeel Wali is a 17-minute short film that focuses on a young man who ill treats an old hungry person imploring the youngster to buy him food. Once the young man returns home, he can’t get the old man off his mind, feeling a burden on his conscience. He tries to relocate the poor chap, but to no avail.

Adeel Wali’s effort centres on the spiritual journey of his protagonist. Again, the director has potential in him to progress in his chosen field, provided he understands the nuances of quality script writing.

The feature film ‘Paidal’ directed by Salman Noorani tells the tale of individuals hailing from different backgrounds who converge in a setting where issues like poverty and lack of education haunt them. A couple of films which were to be shown later in the evening were ‘Hidden Diamonds of Lyari’ and ‘Sheermal’.

The Lyari Film Festival was organised by Nosach Films and Women Development Foundation in collaboration with the Karachi Youth Initiative. Each day prominent personalities associated with the film world (Mustafq Qureshi, Nadeem, Ayesha Gazdar etc) interacted with the audience, sharing their experiences of filmmaking.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2014