KARACHI, Aug 9: A four-day multimedia festival ‘Shanaakht’ will begin at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Saturday. The event has been organised by the Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), a non-profit organisation dedicated to commemorating the collective and individual Pakistani experience across all segments of Pakistani society.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Arts Council on Thursday, the CAP president, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, said that the project ‘Shanaakht’ aimed at documenting the experience of the partition generation so that future countrymen might understand the roots of their identity through tangible exhibits.

She said that the festival would feature a photography exhibition, theater and musical performances as well as audio and video installations. “It is a multimedia project where artists, photographers, historians as well as the public will have the opportunity to come together to explore the identity of Pakistan,” she said.

“Together, they will express, record, narrate and experience the stories of a cross-section of Pakistanis in the period surrounding the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and the nation’s early years”, the CAP president said.

She said that the material collected at the four-day festival would then be archived and used for ‘our permanent museum’.

Giving details about the four-day event she said that besides ‘14/15’, a photography exhibition, sculptures, paintings, and interactive installations, cinema billboard artist S. Iqbal would create a series of murals each covering one decade of Pakistan’s history and popular culture.

S. Iqbal has recently exhibited his works in Japan and is the last cinema billboard artist to continue the tradition of hand painting his creations.

A range of films will be screened throughout the festival including documentaries about partition and independence and oldest Lollywood films. Informal storytelling sessions will be held at the Arts Council’s lawn, where old residents of Karachi will take a trip down memory lane.

The organisers will also set up an audio-video booth where older Karachiites will create history by recording their personal experiences.

In addition to this, Sheema Kirmani will stage a play, while an evening will be held with Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar where they will discuss Pakistan’s history, current politics and social dilemmas in their trademark ‘Loose Talk’ style.

Ayesha Tammy Haq will bring six personalities from across Pakistan, who will reminisce about Pakistan’s past; the years after independence and early struggles.

Arts Council’s secretary Aneeq Ahmed also spoke.