THIS is apropos of Attaullah Khan's letter (March 6). It is important to clarify some of the issues raised by him to clear any misperceptions that may be caused and because they touch upon the heart of what the KaraFilm Festival is.

Mr Khan takes issue with an unreleased Indian film Firaaq being awarded the Best Feature Film by the Festival and perceives this as a slight by the Festival to commercially released Pakistani films Khuda Ke Liye and Ramchand Pakistani. First, it is important to remember that the KaraFilm Festival is an international film festival, not a national film awards show. Festivals, unlike many national awards, do not make a distinction between released and unreleased films and, in fact, vie with each other, as a matter of prestige, to screen the latest films as world or regional premieres, which by definition are before the film's release in cinemas.

Secondly, all films and filmmakers participating in the Festival are equally worthy of respect from the organisers and we go out of our way to accord the same to them, whether they are Pakistani or not. Many festivals will not even screen films already released in their territories. KKL and RP were accorded all due respect though both had long ago completed their cinema runs in Pakistan and were easily available on DVDs.

In the case of RP, in fact, the screening date was allotted according to the wishes of its producer who was out of the country until towards the end of the Festival.

But even more importantly the prizes are decided by an independent jury and do not have any input from the Festival organisers.

The decision to award Firaaq was because, in the collective wisdom of the independent jurors, they considered it by consensus to be the most worthy of the 13 or 14 features in competition.

That is entirely their choice and their right even if their decision may not agree with Mr Khan's opinion of the merits of various films. One cannot expect all people or all juries to have the same opinions.

Mr Khan also believes Kara should have made distinctions in the competitive section between films made in Pakistan and films made in more cinema-friendly countries such as India. The question to ponder is, do we want to ghettoise Pakistani films with the assumption that they are inherently incapable at all of competing with international films?

This year, Pakistani film Burnes Road Ki Nilofer won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress in the face of competition from excellent and much higher budget films from India, Germany, Iran and Turkey to name just a few. Would those awards have been as significant had they been reduced simply to 'the best from Pakistan'?

The one valid point point Mr Khan makes is about the media's fixation with Indian visitors. Unfortunately, despite Kara's attempts to give as much publicity and protocol to other filmmakers as accorded to Indian guests, we have seen time and again that it is the media that chooses to focus only on the Indians.

In the recently-concluded Kara, for example, neither the Italians, Germans, nor any of the Pakistani filmmakers present during the Festival, including KKL star Iman Ali, RP stars Fazal Hussain and Rashid Farooqi, film Burnes Road's writer Faseeh Bari and director Mazhar Moin or RP producer Javed Jabbar received the kind of media attention that the Indians received.

Of course, there was a political aspect to the Indians' participation this year, but this skewed celebrity-focus is interpreted by people who know the Festival only through the media as a characteristic of the Festival itself, which is far from true.

Tragically, the same media sometimes moans about the 'undue importance' given to the Indians. However, until the media itself learns to accord the same importance and respect to other and our own filmmakers as to visiting Indian celebrities, no amount of effort on the part of Kara will seem adequate.

HASAN ZAIDI

Festival Director, KaraFilm Festival

Karachi