Two children from Pakistan are set to participate as members of the International Children’s Jury in the 27th International Children’s Film Festival in Isfahan, Iran. The festival is taking place from Oct 7 to 13. The Little Art’s Lahore International Children’s Film Festival has collaborated with the Isfahan Festival for the initiative.

Warda Waqar, an eighth grade student from The Punjab School, Lahore, and Omar Nazir, an eighth grade student from the Lahore American School, were selected through an open call to schools on the given criteria of children’s interest in filmmaking and ability to analyse films for their peer groups.

Omar also has made a short film which was premiered in 2013 Lahore Film Festival.

As members of the jury, both children from Pakistan will join an international group of 20 children and young people coming from various countries. Their responsibility as jury members will be to see films in the festival competition categories and judge them.

The votes by this selected group of children will decide winning films. There will be 75 films from 40 countries in two main sections of the international cinema and animation.

Founded in 1985, the festival brings nearly 700 Iranian and foreign directors, actors and film distributors together.

The Little Art Director Shoaib Iqbal said: “We are witnessing that through technology and media the exposure of our children and young people is expanding at a great speed. We as artistes and educationists need to work with our children and youth to use all the available resources in creative and educational ways.

“It is very much needed if we want to see our children grow as creative individuals, rather than ordinary consumers of tools, media and information.”

The fifth edition of the festival was organised from Sept 16 to 21 at the Alhamra Art Center, The Mall.

A leading soft drink company has announced its season 6 music schedule. The studio management says it will showcase exciting talent and dynamic performances.

This year’s Coke Studio voyage will witness a fusion of Eastern, Western and regionally inspired music. Its cross-genre Pakistani musical talent will be joined by international musicians trained in both contemporary and traditional instrumentation.

Coke Studio Season 6 features Abrarul Haq, Alamgir, Ali Azmat, Asad Abbas, Atif Aslam, Ayesha Omar, Fariha Pervez, Muazzam Ali Khan, Rostam Mirlashari, Rustam Fateh Ali Khan, Saieen Zahoor, Sanam Marvi, Sumru Ag1iryürüyen, Umair Jaswal, Zara Madani, Zeb & Haniya and Zoe Viccaji.

The musicians will be Asad Ahmed on guitar, Babar Ali Khanna on dholak, Jaffer Zaidi on keyboards, Kamran ‘Mannu’ Zafar on bass, Louis ‘Gumby’ Pinto on drums, Sikandar Mufti on percussions and drums, Omran Shafique on guitar and Zoe Viccaji and Rachel Viccaji on backing vocals.

Season 6 will incorporate global music influences spanning from Fes, Morocco, to the Balkans, the Ottoman, and Kathmandu, Nepal. With this added dimension to its sixth season, Studio endeavours to make Pakistani music more accessible to a global audience, while at the same time encouraging international artistes to adopt and integrate Pakistani music influences into their own compositions.

To celebrate it a gathering was held in Lahore at a club. The evening was opened by a musical rendition of the national anthem followed by a minute of silence in remembrance of Peshawar bombing and Balochistan earthquake victims.

The event was managed by R-Team with Public Relations by Lotus.

Academy Award winning Pakistani film “Saving Face” has been awarded two prestigious Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form at the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, says an email message.

The message says this marks the second Emmy win for film director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy who previously received the accolade in the Current Affairs category for the documentary “Children of the Taliban”.

Speaking about the Emmy win, Ms Chinoy said:

“I will like to dedicate this Award to my late father, the man who served as my mentor and taught me to never take no for an answer, a motto that continues to guide my career today. I would also like to thank the team behind Saving Face for their hard work and continued efforts in raising awareness; I hope the film continues to help bring this issue to the forefront and serves to start dialogue and action.”

Saving Face chronicles the work of acclaimed British Pakistani plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad as he travelled to Pakistan and performed reconstructive surgery on survivors of acid violence.