Today was the first public screening at Kara Film Festival. I was there for day screenings which started at 1 and ended at 7. It was a great experience which Karachites were missing for two years. It is useless about reviewing or talking about movies because reading about it isn’t something as exciting as seeing them as that is the real business. You don’t write about movies, you write movies.

As this time, there were lack of funds so they had to cut one venue short so one is left is kind of same type of movies. I might only be one who is feeling that way but at least we get to see something. Our local tele-films were in abundance today and I seriously feel that we are really good with stories and characterization but we need to work on screenplay and camera angles/composition big time. I was disappointed to see that one of the films didn’t have subtitles but thankfully they shut the DVD in time as it was of no use to watch characters talking in a different language when you don’t understand a word.

Highlights of the day were surely the documentaries. One Indian documentary ‘Shanti Plus’ which takes away the cake for it’s not-so-intellectual storyboard and content. Two by our own Pakistani directors. One of which was a good projection of Tehrik-e-Niswan’s work and other was kind of personal search for spirituality.

Please guys visit this event and support the cultural scene.

[google-video]http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-1741531872827501654&hl=en&fs=true[/google-video]

Time: 1pm
Venue: Arts Council auditorium
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009

These are the adventures of the 4X4 Offroad Pakistan Club to Hingol National Park along the Makran coast in Baluchistan, Pakistan.

Join them at the film screening as they traverse the difficult terrain on this exciting offroad journey along the Hingol river.

The film is an hour long, and will be followed by a Q&A session with the Offroad Club members. For the adventure seekers this is a must watch film – produced by Mahera Omar – afewMOfilms.com

The KB Thespians, Proudly invite you to their first production of 2009, “Ranjha & Juliet” directed by Abdul Aleem Shekhani and written by Aamir Qureshi. A laugh a minute romantic comedy that asks the question does love still exist in this day and age.

This is the sixth play KB Thespians will be bringing to the Pakistani stage, and are planning to stage much more frequent performances of their repertoire this year, that includes plays which range from Beckett’s absurd tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot” to Wildes trivial comedy for serious people “The Importance of being Earnest” and is growing at a swift pace.

The play will be performing on Valentine’s weekend, 13th to 15th February at the South End Club on Khayaban-e-Rahat Starring:

Salik Abbasi,

Sabiha Zia,

Sana Hashim,

Muneeb-ur-Rehman,

And many others including actors that have previously performed in plays such as “Safaid Khoon”, “Waiting for Godot”, “The Marraige Proposal”, “Vakeel Sahib” and “The Importance of being Earnest”.

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Kara Film Festival starts today. Finally! and of course a big Yaay!!

Though today’s screening is invitation based only but everyone can join in the fun of movie watching from Thursday onwards. There are two venues, the major one is Arts Council and some films are scheduled to screen at Nishant Cinema. The festival will continue till 15th of the February. Fortunately or unfortunately, we won’t see much or maybe any Indian stars this time. Please support the event by attending the screenings, especially the wonderful shorts and documentaries at day time.

For more info on schedule and selected movies’ synopses: visit www.karafilmfest.com

PS: I love the Rickshaw on the poster.

Few days back I was visiting this factory whose primary business is assembling of engines (I will not disclose the name) where I found this guy who was working on the furnace without any protection except gloves which he wore (The industry cap in the picture is borrowed from another worker only for this shot). I was amazed to see such high temperature molten aluminium which was boiling in the furnace and took this picture in a hurry due to heat of the furnace. When I asked this guy, he told me that its temperature is near 750 degrees. I with my crew took some of his pictures and made some video shots.

When we were about to leave the site, the same guy that we shot and video taped stopped me and innocently requested me not to make these shots and videos public or submit a report to any television channel and/or specifically the Geo TV. Upon questioning and interrogating this guy, i found a reply that shook me. He said that “Because this is one of the most dangerous jobs at the factory, if his mother saw him working on the furnace, she will never allowe him to work”. This guy was not wearing any guard or safety equipment other than just a pair of gloves. On my way back I was thinking that how many men are working like that in Karachi without any precautions and risking their lives and no one ever thinks about their safety.

 Yesterday on the last day of the three day media exhibition at the expo centre Karachi, excited to see the latest technology and equipment for videography and editing I entered the  venue. The exhibition had occupied two halls, I decided to visit the first hall which was showcasing the technology and equipment but much to my disappointment the exhibitors were almost getting ready to windup the show four hours before the actual closing time and a few stalls were already sitting deserted.

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Business Avenue bomb threat

I just heard of a bomb threat in Business Avenue at Shahrah-e-Faisal. The building has been evacuated and emergency measures have been taken by the authorities. The picture was taken at 3pm, showing ambulances in front of the building and people waiting around.

So, everyone whose offices are near Business Avenue, be a bit more than careful. Also, if anybody has more updates on this, do share.

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The Society of Iqbal Sciences is holding its first session at Teachers’ Development Centre, 129G, Block 2, P.E.C.H.S., Karachi, on 7th of February 2009. The session will start from 3.00 pm and program contents are workshop, discussion and Q-A sitting and representation of literature on Iqbal (books and media) published by Iqbal Academy Pakistan.

The workshop will be conducted by Khurram Ali Shafique, Research Consultant for Iqbal Academy Pakistan and the author of Iqbal: An Illustrated Biography. Admission fee per person is Rs.50 per session.

Pre-session registration at henajawaid000@hotmail.com is required.

PS:Being a student of Mr. Khurram, I can guarantee that this would be worth your time as he has done extensive research on life and works of Iqbal having quite an intriguing perspective.