LAHORE: The 4th Vasaakh Film Festival kicked off at the Forman Christian College on Monday with the screening of a documentary titled ‘Prakash Travelling Cinema.’Guests from different media organisations, including faculty of the Mass Communication Department along with Rector Dr Peter H Armacost and Vice Rector Dr Marcia Grant, attended the inauguration ceremony.Teams from 23 universities of the country and abroad sent in their documentaries for screening at the festival. On the opening day of the three-day festival, five of South Asia’s best documentaries were screened, followed by a panel discussion that highlighted the importance of documentary making and the techniques involved.Armacost welcomed the teams from other universities and stressed upon the importance of teaching filmmaking skills through such events. He said that such platforms provide an excellent opportunity to impart training to students, as well as spotlight the social problems of society at the same time.
Mass Communication Department Chairman, Dr Saleem Abbas, said all universities of the country should focus on training students in documentary and filmmaking since the current era was the era of electronic media. He said the festival has been designed to provide fun and a learning experience since it is proven that informal learning opportunities are as good as classroom teaching.The story of the first movie ‘Prakash Travelling Cinema’ was about a man using a primitive projector to show films in an Indian neighbourhood to earn his livelihood.The second film, titled ‘Invisible Neighbour’, drew reference from the Romanian-French conflict to the Indo-Pak context. ‘Is Morr Par Kuch Nahi Hota’, a fictitious documentary about the futile struggle of a person to catch a bus on time, which he never actually did, was also showcased. After that ‘Samaam’ – a music-based documentary on the works of Indian singer MD Ramanathan, was showcased. After the mid-day break, two more documentaries were screened. ‘The Brick Story,’ based on the problems of labour class and the last documentary of the day ‘Out of thin air’. – Dailytimes
