KARACHI: The Francophonia Film Festival organised by the Alliance Francaise de Karachi (AFK) concluded on Saturday evening after a nine-day run.

Eight films were screened at the event at two venues – AFK and Habitt City.

They were: La Grande Seduction (Canada), Zafafian (Lebanon), Peach Blossom, Pho and Piano (Vietnam), Deserts (Morocco), Look at Me (Tunisia), The Last Debate (Egypt), En Fanfare (France) and Warboy (Romania).

Talking to Dawn about the festival, the AFK director Emmanuel Breurec said, “The festival was initiated last year by the Alliance Francaise of Islamabad. This year, we have organised it in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, almost simultaneously — the Islamabad fest began a week earlier. All are showing the same films with one or two exceptions because the consulates and embassies of the Francophonia organisation are participating and presenting one film or more. We had in Karachi eight days, and eight consulates and embassies participating, so eight films were presented.”

Answering the question about the objectives of the event, Mr Breurec said, “Francophonia is an organisation with about 90 countries [coming] together around the French language, but not only the French language. It’s a cultural and economic space where exchanges and interactions take place. This means every country in this organisation brings its own culture. Viewers coming to the festival can have an idea of how people are living elsewhere in the world and what they’re thinking.”

During the conversation, the French film L’Etranger based on Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger released in 2025 also came up. Mr Breurec said the AFK is trying to bring the film to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026