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LAHORE: The second German Film Festival opened at the National College of Arts (NCA) on Friday.
The Annemarie-Schimmel Haus, (German Cultural Centre) in association with the Goethe-Institute, has organised the three-day event (from Feb 24 to 26) in collaboration with the NCA and Achtung-Berlin (New Berlin Film Award).
The festival opened with screening of Der Mann der ueber Autos (The man who jumped cars). The 105-minute movie with English subtitles was directed by Nick Baker-Monteys.
This award-winning film at both the 2011 Berlin and Aubagne International Film Festivals tells the unique and inspiring story of a young man who walks on foot from Berlin to South Germany. Since the loss of his best friend in a car accident, Julian has been living in a psychiatric hospital. After hearing that the father of his deceased friend has a degenerative heart disease, he leaves the hospital and begins a journey across Germany, hoping his sacrifice on foot will result in bringing healing powers for the ailing man. Along the way, Julian meets a host of characters who help him learn the truth behind the human spirit.
Earlier, speaking at the opening ceremony, Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus director Nadia Riaz said that the festival was being organised for the second time owing to encouraging response from film fanciers. She expressed her hope that the festival would become a regular feature of Lahore's cultural life.
Shireen Pasha, of NCA's Film and Television Department, said the festival was taking place at such a time when many young people from Pakistan were contributing to enriching the contemporary cinema. NCA Principal Sajjad Kausar thanked the audience and said that such festivals would lead to a thought-provoking process in film circles and would provide an opportunity to young filmmakers to have a glance at films being made by fine directors of Germany.
Two films will be screened on Saturday (today). Ueber uns das All (Above us Only Sky) is an 88-minute movie with English subtitles and is directed by Jan Schomburg while Almanya is a 101-minute direction of Yasmin Samdereli.
There will be a panel discussion on the topic 'Ethics in films: Its need and importance' also on Saturday. Shireen Pasha (filmmaker), Usman Peerzada (filmmaker/actor), Bilal Lashari (filmmaker) and Nick Baker-Monteys, a German film director, will be the panelists.
