KARACHI, Sept 1: In order to raise awareness of how some civil society organisations and social activists have been working to address the myriads of socio-cultural issues that country is faced with, a project called Pakistan Calling, supported by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts (RSA) and the Samosa (a news blog), is trying to bring to the fore some of the cultures and communities in Pakistan and help young people who are making films in the fields of social welfare and the arts. These views were expressed by Anwar Akhtar, director of the Samosa, at T2F on Saturday evening.

Mr Akhtar said that he was a British-born Pakistani. His parents were from Bahawalpur and he’d been a regular visitor to Pakistan. Informing the audience on the project, he said Pakistan Calling was set up to have a better British-Pakistani cultural exchange. It’s supported by the RSA, an old and important British think-tank. Shedding light on the need for the initiative, he said there were a large number of people of Pakistani descent who resided in Britain and this summer more people flew into Pakistan than anywhere else. The project was also helping young student filmmakers of Pakistan and London Metropolitan University to showcase their talent in the above-mentioned areas.

His brief speech was followed by the screening of a few short documentaries related to Pakistan Calling. The first was based on an interview with British journalist Jon Snow. Mr Snow talked about how the Afghan war had shaped people’s opinion on Pakistan. He also mentioned as to how America and Americans viewed the rest of the world and what contributed to a distorted image of Pakistan (including partition of the subcontinent).

The second documentary was a touchy one. It told the story of a person who suffered from ‘moderate mental retardation’ and his timely arrival at a relevant organisation helped him improve his health. He now leads a normal life. Next was a short documentary in which interview of RSA’s Matthew Taylor was shown. He highlighted the importance of showcasing social entrepreneurship and having a dialogue between different cultures. This was followed by a piece on Todd Shea who’s with the Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS). The final documentary in the first session was about a conversation between three British Asians — Anita Sharma, J Pundit and Anwar Akhtar.

After the screening, the head of Visual Studies Department, the University of Karachi, Durriya Kazi, said there was a need for such spaces (like Pakistan Calling) and all of us should make an effort to make ourselves heard, because there were a lot of misunderstandings. She said it (Pakistan Calling) was an unfolding project and would grow into something significant.

Replying to a question as to how the platform approached young filmmakers, Mr Akhtar said it’s done through a couple of ways: sometimes they sent the message to relevant places and sometimes by meeting people. Ms Kazi said the platform had already enabled five or six initiatives. In response to another question, Mr Akhtar said while countries indulged in strategic games they did not ‘take interest in human beings’. And the project he’s part of was talking about children, communities, cities etc.