By the time the iconic singer Abida Parveen had hit the last notes of her performance at the closing ceremony of the inaugural Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF), I was well on my way home. What had started as a night of celebration for films had turned into a protracted and tiring party for the well-connected, with cell-phones ubiquitously filming Parveen’s concert, and a few going live on Facebook appended by PIFF’s hashtags.

The ambience was far from pompous, and the young volunteers certainly needed the break. After all, those associated with PIFF, an initiative of the recently set-up Karachi Film Society (KFS), had survived a gruelling, sleep-deprived month.

As one of the members of the jury, I can attest to the festival’s ambition; as a film journalist, I feel it is my duty to point out its shortcomings, with the hope that they can be addressed in the future.

The first Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) took place this past weekend. Irrespective of its administrative shortcomings, it exuded good intentions on the part of its organisers

PIFF is born out of noble intentions: to celebrate cinema and fill the gap left by the KaraFilm Festival (The Karachi International Film Festival, also known as Kara) — the most prominent film festival in Pakistan. To an extent PIFF bore anuncanny resemblance, with some of the Indian guests, such as Nandita Das and Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj having first visited Karachi for Kara. When one celebrity mistakenly announced that “PIFF was formerly called Kara,” at least three to four people slapped their heads in disbelief. It wasn’t the only slip-up of the night.

The closing ceremony started late, even though everything was set up well in advance. After a while, stomachs growled in hunger and a few left before the awards started. A routine and shabby paragraph of words on cue-cards (I wouldn’t call it a script) were eventually read by celebrity hosts; some hogged the spotlight, as if in a competition on who can bore the audience the most. All of them succeeded.

But celebrities are often just that: celebrities, padded with make-up, desperate to show-off, cocky and ill-prepared. On the positive side, in her keynote address, the state minister of information, Marryum Aurangzeb, reiterated her resolve to support film, clarifying, again, that the government’s film policy was “more than a document” (a nod it seems to a critical piece we recently ran in Icon).

A film festival, however, is all about discovering lesser known films, and PIFF had an excellent collection of shorts and features (some titles, of course, were space-fillers). Apparently, over 1300 titles were up for consideration of which 147 made the final cut (not counting mainstream Pakistani titles)

Irrespective of trivialities, including the bruised egos of nominees flown in from abroad, the awards were, for the most part, spot-on. Aghai Nazem (from Iran), the story of a schoolboy in trouble with his teacher and a prostitute with a desperate conscience won the best short film; Veil Done (India) — about Muslim women who enroll in a female-only gym — won best short documentary; Parween Rehman: The Rebel Optimist, a detailed documentary on the life and work of the murdered activist, won best feature documentary. All were deserving winners. However, Lala Begum — the weakest film in the entire festival lineup in my opinion — somehow nabbed the award for best feature, even though it was only 60 minutes long (in most festivals, feature films are those that are a minimum of 75 minutes). If I wasn’t on all three juries (Shorts, Features and Mainstream Pakistani Cinema), I may have assumed that this one particular award was rigged.

The jury structure and composition for each category remained a mystery till the end. While jurors were identified in the festival brochure, it should be noted that not all of the 19 jury members voted on every category. Very few filled the ballot on mainstream Pakistani features, for example, and there was also no jury meeting. Also, because four categories aren’t enough, mainstream Pakistani cinema was given its own category (the eligibility criteria including films released between 2016 and 2017). Surprisingly, awards were given to the least-likely candidates.

Pakistan film industry award winners were Punjab Nahi Jaungi which nabbed Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writer), Fahad Mustafa, Mehwish Hayat (Best Actor and Actress for Actor in Law), Hania Amir, Ali Rehman (Best Male and Female Debut for Janaan), Mitesh Soni (Best Editor for Janaan), Rana Kamran (Best Cinematography for Na Maloom Afraad 2) and Sahir Ali Bagga (Best Music for Arth — The Destination).

A film festival, however, is all about discovering lesser known films, and PIFF had an excellent collection of shorts and features (some titles, of course, were space-fillers). Apparently, over 1300 titles were up for consideration of which 147 made the final cut (not counting mainstream Pakistani titles) as per the organisers. Of these 143 were actually screened. For the jury, the numbers were further whittled down by a selection committee to 30-odd titles for the shorts, short and feature documentary and feature categories.

Apart from the three winners mentioned above, a few other titles really stood out. Dying Candle (Nepal), a strong, unique and engaging story of an immature kid and his elder sister who runs a small alcohol shop in her home, immediately comes to mind as one of PIFF’s better selections. Director Naresh Kumar NC, one of the visiting filmmakers at the festival, had delivered a technically and aesthetically sound motion picture, brimming with subtext and in-your-face drama. Performance-wise, Srijana Subba (a theatre actor) walks a very delicate line as a woman who faces compromises at every turn for the sake of her family. The film, a prime contender in the Best Feature race in my opinion, was mistakenly left out of the presentation due to an editing goof-up; a clip from Cake (a last minute addition to the festival, and a title no one voted on) ran in its place.

Zaraab, the second-to-none best feature of the festival in my opinion, is a difficult-to-pull-off, character-driven tale of a lower-class family living in Gwadar. Although a submission from Bahrain, the cast is entirely Pakistani (the film’s main language is Balochi). Then Moomal Rano, a contemporary reworking of the Sindhi tale starring Saba Qamar and Ahsan Khan had the most cinematic presence of the lot. Directed by Siraj ul Haque, the film is a Pakistan-India collaboration.

As Seen on TV (Argentina), a contender for the Best Short Film Award, had a very pertinent message on ethics and moralities of entertainment and social media. Other engaging titles were: Some Lover to Some Beloved (documentary feature, starring Zia Mohyeddin’s life), My Heart (a short-short film from Iran), Tokei Maru (Greece), The Edge (Russia), Madinay Wala Jahaz (Pakistan) and The Survivor (Pakistan).

The Pakistan premieres included Cake (Pakistan), The Valley (US), and Songs of Scorpions. Cake, of course, was a revelation and you can read the full review of it elsewhere in Icon.

While it was commendable that PIFF was hosted at multiple venues across the city — Goethe Institut, Alliance-Francaise, Zaiuddin University, Iqra University (Defence and Nazimabad campuses), T2F and Nueplex played host to screenings of these and most of the other titles — the scattered venues did showcase the need for a central focal point for a festival. The lack of availability and proper publicisation in advance of festival schedules and the availability of tickets also became a sore point for many.

Somewhere in the mix, six panel discussions were also held at Ziauddin University with visiting guests Vinay Pathak, Vishal and Rekha Bharadwaj, Nandita Das, Harsh Narayan, Anjum Rajabali, Zeenat Lakhani, Saket Chaudhry, Nishita Jain, Madhab Panda, Subhash Kapoor, Shobhu Yarlagadda and S. Rajamouli. Of course, it wasn’t all India — the panels included Pakistani filmmakers and celebrities, among them directors Asim Raza and Jami and singer-actor Ali Zafar.The panels could have also been better publicised and made more accessible for general audiences, especially given the heavyweights featured in them.

Even though aspects unique to a film festival either got sidetracked (some even thrown out the window, such as regular Q&As after screenings), the sheer drive of creating an annual initiative is an ambitious undertaking by PIFF’s core spearheaders Sultana Siddiqui (President Hum Network), Badar Ikram (Head, Hum Films) and Festival Director Abrar ul Hasan. And for the first time, irrespective of the jaggedness of the enterprise, the event was pumped up by genuineness and good intentions. Management skills will, hopefully, be better next year.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 8th, 2018