LAHORE – The FiLUMS 2011, an amateur short film festival, concluded on Sunday. An unprecedented total of 750 entries were received from all over the country and abroad. This year, the festival went global with submissions from Turkey, Iran, Brazil, Serbia, UAE, US, Ireland and Spain.
Over course of the three-day event, the short-listed 130 films were screened. These were divided into four categories including short films, feature length, documentaries and animations. The event kicked-off on February 11 with an opening ceremony. The executive council of the LUMS Media Arts Society and the organising committee members of FiLUMS, welcomed the participants and informed them of details of the event.
Dr Ali Khan, patron of the society, initiated the opening ceremony by describing FiLUMS’ crucial role in promoting filmmaking in Pakistan. Society President Sundus Naeem said that despite 230 international entries, 500-plus local entries formed backbone of FiLUMS. She appreciated the incredible talent and hoped that inspiring filmmakers could potentially constitute future juries of FiLUMS. Rafiq Lightwala, convenor of the event, admired the increasing level of appreciation for Pakistani cinema and filmmaking as evidenced by the huge number of entries received this year.
He expressed hope that the event acquires even more international exposure in the coming years. The opening was followed by premiere of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Emmy-award winning documentary “The Children of Taliban”. Flight delays forced Sharmeen to stay away from the premiere. But she did send a message expressing her hope that the documentary would inspire the audience to help the country from its current deplorable state.
The premiere ended with an interactive discussion session with Chief Guest actor-filmmaker Usman Peerzada, who shared with the audience his views on the documentary and the Pakistani film industry in general, while taking questions and comments from the audience. He applauded the movie on being well-shot and edited and was especially impressed by the crew’s ability to report from places where mobility was almost impossible. He called the documentary an “eye opener” for the current state of the country.
On Saturday, FiLUMS 2011 premiered the internationally-acclaimed short film Heal by Adnan Ahmed. This premi
