LAHORE: The concluding day of the Travelling Film South Asia Festival at Olomopolo treated film and culture enthusiasts to yet another brilliant selection of films from the region on Sunday.

The programme included ‘The City That Spoke To Me,’ a work in progress from India that tells the inspiring story of the friendship and camaraderie between two young women.

The next film was ‘Decoding Gender,’ recipient of the ‘Best Documentary of 2022’ at the Bangladesh Pramannakar Parshad Film Festival, which details a quest for the ultimate representation of a gender role through the personal journey of the filmmaker.

Then came ‘Gurkha Girl,’ a beautiful short Nepalese film about the recruitment of Nepali girls in British Gurkha regiments, with Dilmaya, a young girl from a rural mountain village, as its protagonist, who sees it as a life-changing opportunity and devotes all her time to preparation.

Lastly, ‘Taangh (longing),’ Bani Singh’s award-winning documentary from India, was screened, covering the filmmaker’s journey from Delhi and Kolkata to Mumbai and finally Lahore to connect with her father’s old friends on both sides of the border—hockey mates who went from being in the same team before Partition to arch-rivals as their land got split into India and Pakistan.

The festival ended with a discussion between Salima Hashmi, Sarmad Khoosat, and founding member of Film South Asia Kanak Mani Dixit, visiting from Kathmandu, Nepal. The trio discussed the role of films in cultural diplomacy, covering sub-themes such as the collective South Asian identity, geopolitical factors, transcending borders, exchange of ideas and information, historical events, dissenting viewpoints, globalization, and human rights.

The festival returned to Pakistan after 20 years, and this edition of the festival was curated by Farjad Nabi and Olomopolo Media in collaboration with Nestle Fruita Vitals, SAPAN (South Asia Peace Action Network), FM91, and Khoosat Films. The festival was free and open to the public. The festival will have a one-day run in Gujranwala on Sept 26 at the Learning Hub College.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023