Salaam Pakistan Film Festival is a brand-new touring film festival showcasing the very best of Pakistan’s new independent films. Audiences will have the rare chance to see award-winning films, a UK premiere, Oscar winning documentaries and special Q&A’s. It will be on at Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre on Sunday 24 March, Wednesday 27 March and Saturday 30 March 2019. The inaugural Salaam Pakistan Film Festival is a small but mighty film programme, which will also be touring other UK cities throughout March.
Various prestigious organisations support the Festival, including the British Film Institute and Rangoonwala Foundation. This year’s festival covers a range of themes including the 1947 partition, class and social struggle, female rights and the fight for social justice.
Salaam Pakistan Film Festival Listings
The UK premiere of the compelling UK-Pakistani film Lakeer will open the festival. Film critics hail this as the first Pahari film. Pioneering filmmaker Shiv Dutt, who sadly passed away in 2018, is the film’s director. Lakeer tells the story of a Kashmiri couple divided by Partition in
1947. The film’s UK-based writer Ali Adaalat will be present for a special Q&A following the screening.
Further highlights of the festival are the rare screenings of A Girl in the River and Saving Face. These are two powerful and hopeful Oscar winning documentaries by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. In 2012, the Government of Pakistan honoured Sharmeen with the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian honour. She is also the only woman to win two Oscars by the age of 37.
The festival is also excited to announce Pakistani filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal will be present for her film Josh. The thought-provoking film about class and social struggle closes the Festival. Iram, a Physics Olympian turned filmmaker, initiated the Pakistani Oscar committee and is the founder of Pakistan’s first professional screenwriting lab (QALAMBAAZ). Iram will be taking Q&A’s from the audience after the screening.
Book at Midlands Art Centre
MAC’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director Debbie Kermode commented “We’re delighted to welcome the first Salaam Pakistan Film Festival. Our audiences will appreciate the opportunity to see this fantastic collection of cutting-edge Pakistani and British Pakistani films.”
Tickets for all screenings at Midlands Arts Centre can be booked via the Box Office on 0121-446 3232 or online at www.macbirmingham.co.uk (all films are screened with English subtitles).
Click here to book your place.
Salaam Pakistan Film Festival acknowledges the support of all its partners: The National Lottery, BFI FAN, Film Hub Midlands, Film Hub North, Rangoonwala Foundation, British Pakistan Foundation (BPF).
Read more about the festival here.
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