LAHORE: The two-day 8th Vasakh International Documentary Film Festival will open at Ali Auditorium on Friday.

The festival has been organised by teh Interactive Resource Centre (IRC), a non-governmental organisation based in Lahore.

IRC Director Muhammad Waseem while shedding light on the festival told Dawn that Vasakh has had been established with the specific objective of creating a critical mass by sensitising the youth on issues of human rights through documentary films. Vasakh provided a platform to aspiring documentary filmmakers not only to showcase their work to a larger audience but to get exposure to documentary films from around the world.

Waseem said the eighth edition of the festival was being organised from May 29-30 in collaboration with Umeed Jawan under the ‘Pur Amn Pakistan’ campaign where films made by film students from all over Pakistan as well as international documentaries on themes of peace, tolerance and cultural heritage would be showcased.

“The festival hopes to create a counter narrative against extremism by using film as a tool to highlight examples of peace and tolerance not only in Pakistan but in other cultures and countries as well,” he added.

A total of 23 short documentary films will be screened from India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Burma and Italy.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2015

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