KARACHI: The Creative Karachi Festival (CKF), conceived by Sabeen Mahmud to celebrate the talent and spirit of Karachi’s creative community, returned to the city for its second offering at the Alliance Francaise here on Saturday.

First held in 2014, this year’s CKF brought to the fore a more diverse offering with arts and crafts, storytelling and dance performances, improv and standup comedy sessions, satire, documentaries, as well as panel discussions. The common thread between the varied sampling was a whole lot of inclusive fun, an extension of the kind of life Sabeen led.

An improv session by the Platoon with ideas being floated from the crowd and integrated into comical scenarios was a welcome relief on the particularly hot day. From jokes about parasites and germs, to a quirky prompt from the crowd about omelettes quickly transformed and was woven into a one-on-one conversation between the famous cartoon characters Dexter, Mandark and Dee Dee.

Satire and comedy were given plenty of space to shine with a special panel discussion organised to analyse the satire pieces written by Nadeem Farooq Paracha, a columnist of Dawn. Known to ruffle feathers for his controversial writings, Paracha was his usual self, bantering with Pakistani filmmaker Farjad Nabi, who was moderating.

Both began discussing the satire piece written on Malala Yousufzai, which ironically many locally as well as internationally considered as a piece comprising hard facts. “The Malala piece was done to satirise those people who take anything on the internet seriously.”

An interesting element to the panel discussion was dramatic readings of Paracha’s satire work such as one titled ‘Facebook timeline of the 21st century Pakistani celebrity’.

Several documentaries were also shown throughout the day. This was a clear departure from last year when only French Art movies and documentaries were screened. This year, several Pakistani documentaries were shown which included Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s Oscar winning A Girl in the River. The screening was also followed by a Q&A session with the team that had worked on the documentary, though many in the crowd whispered that Chinoy’s presence would have added more flavour to the session.

Unfortunately, much of what the team discussed could not be heard over the noise, or to be more precise, music that was blaring from the gardens outside.

In the courtyard children and their mothers hung around for several storytelling sessions, while the rooftop saw wiz kids part of a robotics lab.

As it became cooler towards the evening, arrangements were under way for musical performances by Yousuf Kerai, Ali Suhail, Sikandar ka Mandir, and a qawwali performance by the Saami Brothers, among other musicians.

Foodies were also well-sated, and though the choices available were restricted, this did not deter people from tucking into delicious goodies, shared among family and friends. The home-made sorbet was especially appreciated.

An Art Bazaar was also at hand where visual art was displayed, and at some places artists could be seen painting away. There were kiosks selling traditional crafts and one of the most popular stalls was where children lined up to learn the basics of making paper. From grinding together newspapers, to making a pulp, setting a mould and putting the final paper out to dry, this interactive activity was a hit among both children and adults.

As a tribute to Sabeen Mahmud, the Creative Karachi Festival will also be held on Sunday, which marks her first death anniversary. Timings for the festival are from 1pm onwards and entry ticket is Rs350 per head.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2016

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