KARACHI: Pakistani and Afghan documentary makers presented their joint audio and video productions on human rights issues at the Centre for Excellence in Journalism, Karachi, on Friday.
These documentaries were produced in a first-of-its-kind residential training programme that brought together documentary makers from Pakistan and Afghanistan in Karachi from 17-28 July 2017. The training was led by award-winning journalists from Serbia, Sonja Ristic and Zoran Ćulafić.
Foundation Hirondelle, the Centre for Excellence in Journalism, International Film Festival and Forum of Human Rights and the United Nation Information Centre jointly organised the training on ‘Documentary Making for Human Rights and Peacebuilding’, which was funded by the Embassy of Switzerland in Pakistan. Documentaries produced in the training would be broadcasted on radio and screened at film festivals across the world.
“Bringing different people together is always a fascinating idea. You get different perspectives, skill sets and different ways of thinking,” Mohammad Behroozian from Afghanistan said, adding that, “It is even more important when the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan come together. The people-to-people diplomacy will, hopefully, result in better relations between the people of the two countries.”
“There is a wide gap between the journalists of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Such types of training definitely help build better understanding among professionals and improve the prospects of peace, because these people have the power to build public opinion, ” said Said Nazir, a Pakistani participant.
At the centre of Nameera Ahmad (Pakistan), Mohammad Behroozian (Afghanistan) and Najiba Noori’s (Afghanistan) film ‘Sound of Silence’ is a 15-year-old girl Fariah, who was born deaf. Through Fariah’s story, the film explores the challenges faced by deaf people in Karachi and how they deal with them. Radio journalist Said Nazir (Pakistan) produced an audio documentary on the challenges and success stories of transgender people in mainstream professions. Sadeq Naseri (Afghanistan) produced an audio documentary on child labour in Karachi.
Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan Marc George, director at UN Information Centre Vittorio Cammarota, diplomats as well as the characters of the documentaries were present on the occasion. A day earlier, the Swiss Consul General Philippe Crevoisier hosted the closing ceremony of this training at his residence, which was also attended by filmmakers and film enthusiasts.
Fondation Hirondelle CEO Caroline Vuillemin said: “This training was an exciting opportunity to marry capacity building and production for the participants. The Foundation Hirondelle experts worked with a mixed team that brought new angles and rich inputs to the stories and produced unique documentaries.”
