LAHORE : The three-day Divvy Film Festival by the Foundation Art Divvy concluded on Sunday at Alhamra Art Centre, Mall Road, after screening independent Pakistani films, feature films, short films, documentaries and animated films.

On the other hand, the Spring Festival celebrations began under the auspices of the Information & Culture Department on Sunday at Alhamra.

At the film festival, like the previous two days, various filmmakers screened their films. Ali Mehdi & Soch Videos’s Hazara Parkour was about the time when the roads to Hazara Town in Quetta were sealed and remaining cautious was the only way to survive — the Hazara youth found their escape in the extreme sport, parkour.

Jaffar Raza Jafri’s Pakeeza was about the relationship between a responsible boy and his precocious younger sister becoming strained when an unspoken truth dared to surface.

Daniyal Yousaf’s Fankaar was about Darashiko, a musician and budding filmmaker who invited a former bosom friend, Aurangzeb, to his house after years of no contact. Darashiko’s partner and mentor Babar resented this intrusion. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb arrived on the scene and defied expectations of who he was supposed to be. As the evening progresses, Dara’s desperate quest to thread a line between his past and present, and impose his artistry on his two companions, had explosive consequences for the trio.

Joshinder Chaggar’s More Than Cute was about a senior Bollywood dance class in Melbourne city in the perfect intercultural setting to discover new friendships and to unpack misconceptions about ageing. A group of Caucasian women and one Indian man met every Wednesday morning to learn Bollywood dance, stay fit and keep loving life. Through the lens of the traditional costume, stories were uncovered and shared. The studio owner, and the dance teacher, South-Asian women in their 40s, added their own perspectives to the dialogue. Simultaneously, underneath all the fun, colour and laughter worked as miraculous healing at many different levels.

Uzair Surhio & Afreen Zehra’s Unseen depicted the life of Christian community involved in manual scavenging in Pakistan where only Christians were supposed to do the dirty work.

Fatima Najeeb’s Tamashayi, 2022 was about a character, Adeel, a regular guy who witnessed incidents of misogyny, discrimination and perversion towards women by his male friends, family members and colleagues, however, he did not take part in them. An unforeseen event forced him to reconsider his approach.

Amjad Ali Hunza’s Balda was about the lack of rescue services that could bring tragedies to the local porters.

Ali Sattar’s Talish was a surreal psychological thriller about a very powerful businessman trapped in a shack in the middle of a desert. Will he be able to escape? Will he come to terms with his reality? These were the very questions in the film.

Alhamra witnessed the beginning of weeklong spring festivities by the Information and Culture Department with a folk music show featuring folk singers Fazal Jutt and Shahid Lohar. Additional Secretary Culture Nazia Jabeen inaugurated the spring festivities.

The Spring Festival is being celebrated in every nook and corner of the city for the first time under the supervision of Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Ali Randhawa. Sponsored events are taking place in the Spring Festival. Additional Secretary Nazia Jabeen inaugurated the festival celebrations.

The festival offers rich entertainment such as folk music, Mehfil-e-Ghazal, humorous poetry and painting exhibition. On the inaugural day of spring festivities, famous folk singer Fazal Jutt and Shahid Lohar performed. The Spring Festival will continue till March 12.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2023