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Across The LOC | Pakistan | 2005 | 38 Min | English

Narrator: Munizae Jahangir
Camera: Munizae Jahangir, Mohammad Wahid
Editing: Furqan Ahmad
Script: Waqar Yunus
Directed by: Munizae Jahangir

Synopsis
The film documents the historic journey of a delegation of journalists who traveled to Indian Administered Kashmir (IAK). This was the first time that Pakistani journalists were allowed to enter IAK. The documentary, made by one of the members of the delegation of Pakistani journalists, captures the dilemma of the people of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. With interviews of key political players of Jammu and Kashmir, the youth as well as the common 'man-on-the-street', the documentary offers a rare glance into the uncensored realities of Kashmir.

About the Filmmaker
Munizae Jahangir completed her BA from McGill University, Canada, in political science and english and her MA in Media Studies from the New School University in New York. She has produced and directed the documentary "Search For Freedom" (3rd KaraFilm Festival), which has aired on ABC TV ( Australia). She has worked at Pakistan Television as an anchor reporter and at Geo TV as a producer and a supervising producer, and is currently Pakistan correspondent for India's NDTV.

Al-Ghazali The Alchemist of Happiness | UK-Iran | 2004 | 80 Min | English

Cast: Ghorban Nadjafi, Robert Powell, Dariush Arjmand, Mitra Hajjar, Abol Reza Kermani, Muhammad Poursattar
Producer: Ovidio Salazar
Directed by: Ovidio Salazar

Synopsis
Combining ‘road-movie’ documentary with historical drama , and crisscrossing between the present day and the 11th century, this film explores the life and impact of the greatest spiritual and legal philosopher within medieval Islam, Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, asking how we, living in the 21st century can still find relevance in his teachings.

About the Filmmaker
A native of California, Ovidio Salazar has been involved in documentary films for over 20 years. After studying theatre and performance art in Los Angeles and New York, his interest in Sufism took him to Europe and the Middle East, where he studied Arabic and Islamic studies in London and Cairo. For two years he was series producer for the BBC’s “Faces of Islam”, and also filmed the pilgrimage to Mecca on several occasions, directing the award-winning “Hajj: Journey of a Lifetime” for the BBC.

Asim Free Man | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2004 | 22 Min | Bosnian

Camera: Teo Agacevic
Editing: Nisvet Hrustic
Music: Extra Travnik
Script: Rusmir Agacevic
Produced by: Nisvet Hrustic
Directed by: Rusmir Agacevic

Synopsis
This is a documentary about Asim Safic, a 60-year-old Bosnian Muslim, who for almost 40 years played rock and country music with his friends in a little town called Travnik in the middle of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a story about a man who drives a garbage truck for a living and lives modestly. He has a lot of emotional scars left from the war in Bosnia. Everyday he goes to work as well as for his band rehearsal with great enthusiasm, trying to escape from the pain that he feels.

About the Filmmaker
Rusmir Agacevic, screenwriter and director, was born in Travnik, Bosnia- Herzegovina. He has written over 25 theatre plays and has directed 30. Some of his stage plays were recorded and later broadcast on Yugoslavian National TV. He also wrote the screenplay for two successful feature films. His comedy "Ljudi Ko Vozvi" (People Like Trains) was directed for TV by well known director Emir Kusturica. Agacevic has also won prizes for his documentary " Omaha."

Awaiting The Cranes' Return: Distaster, Degradation And Development | Pakistan | 2005 | 18 Min | English

Narration: Parvaiz Bashir Khan
Camera: Syed Imran Ali
Editing: S.H.Abdi
Script: Sana Raza
Executive Producer: IUCN
Producer: Eveready Pictures
Directed by: Samina Aslam

About the Filmmaker
Samina Aslam is head of productions at Eveready Pictures' TV department. Alongside making weekly programmes for the various television channels, she has also produced several documentaries on a variety of topics. Samina hopes to continue making documentaries relating to people, cultures & livelihoods.

“Apaga Y Vamanos” (Switch Off) | Spain | 2005 | 87 Min | Spanish-Mapudungun

Camera: Sergio Armstrong
Editing: Christian Fuma
Sound: Alfonso Segura
Music: Delfi Ramirez
Animation: Fleur Noguera
Script: Clement Darrasse, Manel Mayol
Producer: Esteban Bernatas
Directed by: Manel Mayol

Synopsis
The Biobio is the longest river in Chile. Its source is in the Andes and it flows into the Pacific Ocean. Not only is it important ecologically, but also politically and historically, as the Biobio was the natural frontier during the Spanish occupation. The third biggest dam in the world, Ralco in the Biobio River, was inaugurated in 2004 after running into trouble with the Pehuenche-Mapuche indigenous people. The ancestral land of the Pehuenches has been flooded by Endesa, the transnational Spanish company.

About the Filmmaker
Manel Mayol I Riera was born in Barcelona in 1966. He studied fine arts at Barcelona University and photography at Huddersfield Technical College. He has worked for different television and production companies in Spain and has made a number of documentaries on culture and politics. His work has been shown in several European countries as well as in the United States.

Celebrating Saneeya | Pakistan | 2005 | 14 Min | English

Camera: Sultan Butt, Beena Sarwar
Editing: Jibran Zuberi
Script: Beena Sarwar
Directed & Produced by: Beena Sarwar

Synopsis
This is a portrait of Pakistani journalist Saneeya Hussain who died on 20th April 2005 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she lived with her husband Luis, a geographer. She embodied feminism and women's rights in the most undogmatic way, living life on her own terms and, in doing so, countering trends that militate against women's individual freedom in Pakistan specifically and South Asia in general. Through interviews with family and friends, archival video and stills, the film captures her life.

About the Filmmaker
Beena Sarwar is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Karachi, with a BA degree in studio art and english literature (Brown University, USA 1986), and a masters in television documentary ( Goldsmith College, University of London 2001). She has written for several international publications, made a number of documentaries and contributed chapters to books focusing on South Asian women's issues. She is currently on attending a Nieman Fellowship for journalists at Harvard University, USA.

City Of Photos | India | 2005 | 60 Min | Bengali-English

Narration: Smriti Nevatia
Camera: Deepti Gupta
Editing: Nishtha Jain
Sound: Gautam Nag, Gissiy Michael, Dipankar Chaki
Music: Debojyoti Mishra
Directed & Produced by: Nishtha Jain

Synopsis
“City of Photos” explores the little known ethos of neighbourhood photo studios in Indian cities, discovering entire imaginary worlds in the smallest of spaces. Tiny, shabby studios that appear stuck in a time-warp turn out to be places throbbing with energy. These afford fascinating glimpses into individual fantasies and popular tastes. Yet beneath the fun and games runs an undercurrent of foreboding. Not everyone enjoys being photographed; not every backdrop is beautiful; not all photos are taken on happy occasions.

About the Filmmaker
Nishtha Jain began her career as an editor and correspondent for a television news channel. She then joined the Film and Television Institute of India where she specialized in film direction. Since 1998 she has been making a docu-series for television as well as independent documentaries. She has also worked briefly as an Executive Producer for a documentary channel.

Continuous Journey | Canada | 2004 | 87 Min | English-Punjabi

Camera: Ali Kazimi
Editing: Graeme Ball, Ali Kazimi
Sound: Phil Strong
Script: Ali Kazimi
Directed & Produced by: Ali Kazimi

Synopsis
In 1914 the Komagata Maru, a vessel carrying 376 immigrants from British India, became the first ship transporting migrants to be turned away from Canada. During the two-month detention in the harbour, Canadian authorities drove the passengers to the brink of thirst and starvation. The affair exposed the British Empire’s myths of equality, fair play and justice, and became a turning point in the freedom struggle in India. “Continuous Journey” is a multilayered film essay that interweaves photographs, archival newsreels, home movies and official documents to unravel a complex and little known incident. Winner of the Best Film at Himal Documentary Film Festival 2005.

About the Filmmaker
Ali Kazimi began on the path to filmmaking when he taught himself photography as a 13-year-old using his father’s 1940’s Kodak Brownie, honing his skills using cameras borrowed from friends. In 1979 he won his first award as a photographer in a university competition. In 1983 he won a scholarship to attend the film production programme at York University, receiving his BFA (Honors) in 1987. Since then, Ali Kazimi has worked as producer, director, writer and cinematographer on several productions.

Death Of Comedy | Pakistan | 2005 | 70 Min | Urdu-English

Camera: Furqan Al, Shuja Haider
Editing: Essa Khan, Khurram Panjwani
Creative Director: Sikander Mufti
Directed & Produced by: Shaan Taseer

Synopsis
When Saeed Khan, popularly known to film audiences as Rangeela, died on May 24 2005, he left behind a shining legacy of hard work and the most prolific body of work by any comic actor in Pakistan’s history. But his life was often a struggle to get people to accept his satiric genius and to take him seriously as a filmmaker. “Death Of Comedy” is an insight into the cultural history of comedy in Pakistan, with an introduction to one of the greatest pop culture icons of the ‘60s and the ‘70s.

About the Filmmaker
Shaan Taseer is the chief executive of Business Plus television and is a chartered accountant by training. His previous documentaries include "The Courage of Mukhtaran Mai" and "Meera in Trouble" both have which have been broadcast on Business Plus.

The Die Is Caste | India | 2004 | 83 Min | Hindi-English

Camera: Ranjan Kamath
Editing: Ranjan Kamath
Sound: Ashley Rodriguez
Graphics: Ashley Rodrigues
Directed & Produced by: Ranjan Kamath

Synopsis
“The Die Is Caste” is an appraisal of three decades of the Naxalite movement in Bihar, in eastern India. It examines the role of the Naxalites (i.e. Communist party of India (Marxist- Leninist) Liberation, People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Center) as agents of socio-political change employing violence. Against the backdrop of parliamentary and legislative assembly elections in Bihar between 1999 and 2001 the film portrays the change of over 30 years in the social and political status of the Scheduled Castes (i.e. Dalits), the benefits accruing to the middle castes engineered by the Mandal Commission, and the emergence of Laloo Yadav and the consequent backlash from upper-caste landlord militias like the Ranvir Sena.

About the Filmmaker
Ranjan Kamath was born in 1963, Banglore, India. He studied speech and drama and graduated as an associate of the Trinity College of Music, London. After working as an actor and stage and lighting designer in Calcutta, Rajan completed his post-graduation from the London International Film School with a distinction in cinematography. For nearly two decades he has been working both as a producer and a director/ cinematographer on Indian features, international co-productions and short features for international channels.

Cosmopolis: Two Tales Of A City | India | 2004 | 14 Min | English-Hindi-Marathi

Actors: Renuka Shahane, Paromita Vohra
Camera: Mrinal Desai, Setu
Editing: Jabeen Merchant, Kavita Pai
Sound: Paromita Vohra, Gissy Michael, Hari M, Vipin Bhati Producer: Devi Pictures
Directed by: Paromita Vohra

Synopsis
In two discrete but associated short tales, whose themes are inextricably linked, this film looks at divisions of class, language and food, and queries the myths of Bombay as a great cosmopolitan city.

About the Filmmaker
Paromita Vohra is a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. Her films as director are “Work in Progress” (2004), a documentary about the World Social Forum held in Bombay in 2004, “Cosmopolis: Two Tales of a City”(2004), “Un-Limited Girls”(2002), “A Short Film About Time”(2000), “A Woman’s Place”(1999), and “Annapurna”(1995). She is the scriptwriter of “Khamosh Pani” (Golden Leopard, Locarno Film Festival 2003, Best Screenplay, KaraFilm Festival 2003), “A Few Things I Know About Her” (a documentary that explores the many traditions that have sprung up around the life of mystic poet Mirabai), “Silver Conch” (a faux documentary about women, body image and self identity) and “If You Pause” (about museums and ways of seeing).

“Drvo Ti Je K’o Covjek” (Tree Is Like A Man) | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2004 | 21 Min | Bosnian

Camera: Nisvet Hrustic
Editing: Nisvet Hrustic
Sound: Nisvet Hrustic
Screenplay: Rusmir Agacevic
Directed & Produced by: Nisvet Hrustic

Synopsis
Refik Kajmak is a lumberjack from Vraniska, close to Vitez in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Kajmak loves wood and holds records at wood-cutting competitions in the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He feels for trees, nourishes them, watches and admires them. The film follows him in the process of bringing down an old tree, capturing the natural connection between humans and trees.

About the Filmmaker
Nisvet Hrustic was born, and currently lives and works in Vitez, Bosnia- Herzegovina. He began doing black and white and color photography in 1973. In 1975, he started working on the “Super 8” format in film and to date has worked on all formats in film and video production. Among other things, he has worked as a cameraman and editor for television, and has also produced, edited and synchronized cartoons.

Glass House | USA | 2005 | 10 Min | English

Camera: Chi-Jang Yin
Editing: Chi-Jang Yin
Music: Jason Roebke
Script: Chi-Jang Yin
Producer: Thomas Roszak
Directed by: Chi-Jang Yin

Synopsis
The “Glass House” is an experimental documentary that examines the creative process of a modern architect building a home for his family. The home is an experiment in form and function, transparency, livability and technology. The viewer emerges with a deeper understanding of architecture, construction and the rich contemporary possibilities of time, movement and light.

About the Filmmaker
Chi-Jang Yin is a Chinese-born multimedia artist who specializes in combining forms of photography, video and performance. Her work is mainly focused on women’s issues, immigrant identities, political instability and social conflict, as well as themes of identity, gender, race, and the history of culture. Her experimental documentaries and new media works have been featured at festivals in Germany, Italy, Canada, China, the Philippines and the US. She received her BFA and MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago and is an Assistant Professor at DePaul University, Chicago.

The Great Indian School Show | India | 2005 | 53 Min | English

Camera: Setu
Editing: Rhea Dasgupta
Sound: Suresh Rajamani
Directed & Produced by: Avinash Deshpande

Synopsis
At the outset, it is a school like any other. What’s different is that the school management has installed close circuit television cameras in the school. 185 cameras cover every square inch of the school premises and the school children grow up under the watchful gaze of these cameras. Is this a sign of our times? The concept of discipline could easily be misrepresented and misinterpreted. Schoolboy mischief could be subverted into major misdemeanor.

About the Filmmaker
Avinash Deshpande is a freelance filmmaker and scriptwriter. He studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, where he also worked briefly as an assistant professor. He is visiting faculty in several leading film-related and mass communications institutes. He has also studied documentary film and photography and, since October 2000, has shot and directed several films in Germany, Italy and the USA.

The Gutter Gate…A Story Of Survival | Pakistan | 2005 | 15 Min | Urdu-Pushto

Camera: Mikaail
Editing: Kashif Jatoi
Sound: Naveed Anjum Kasuri
Executive Producer: National College of Arts, Lahore
Producer: Nisar Ahmed
Directed by: Firouzeh Subhan Usufzay

Synopsis
The film offers an insight into one of the most marginalized groups of people in Pakistani society – young trash collectors – and their great quest for survival. A tribute to all the young trash collectors of Lahore, the documentary also highlights the dangers and threats these children face in their daily lives, and shows how they still manage to cherish their happy moments.

About the Filmmaker
Firouzeh Usufzay is a film and television student at the National College of Arts, Lahore. She was born and raised in Dubai and plans to be an ethnographic moviemaker. G

Hansot By The Bay | USA | 2004 | 12 Min | English-Urdu

Producer: Shahab Riazi, Saqib Mausoof
Directed by: Shahab Riazi, Saqib Mausoof, Kashif Al Aziz

Synopsis
Hansot is a village in Indian Gujarat. At Partition, some of its inhabitants left for Pakistan while others stayed in India. In 1957, one Hansoti established himself in the San Francisco Bay area. Now the Hansoti community has a cricket club, comprising people from both India and Pakistan.

About the Filmmaker
Saqib Mausoof is a writer-actor who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He is presently working on a feature-length script. Shahab Riazi is an actor and a poet, also living in the Bay area. In his spare time, he captains the Santa Clena cricket club.

The House On Gulmohar Avenue | India | 2005 | 30 Min | English-Hindi

Camera: Mrinal Desai
Editing: Shan Mohammed
Sound: S. Subrimanian
Music: Sawan Dutta
Producer: Public Service Broadcasting Trust
Directed by: Samina Mishra

Synopsis
The film is set in a part of New Delhi called Okhla, an area that is predominantly inhabited by Muslims, and one that is sometimes also called ‘Mini Pakistan.’ The film traces the personal journey of the filmmaker through the ideas of identity and belonging. Encounters with other residents of this area and a quiet presence of the political context in India today are woven into the journey. The filmmaker’s personal history is a hybrid one but she grew up as a Muslim. The film traces her awareness of this part of her identity and connects her personal journey to the lives of other people in the area, in an effort to understand what it can mean to be a Muslim in India today.

About the Filmmaker
Samina Mishra is a documentary filmmaker and media practitioner based in New Delhi. Her work includes “Home and Away”, a multimedia exhibition using photographs, text, sound and html presentations to explore the lives of British Asian children in London. She has directed “Stories of Girlhood”, a series of three films on the girl child in India, produced for UNICEF, India. She has also written and photographed “Hina In The Old City”, a non-fiction book on the walled city of Delhi for children and has translated six children’s stories from Urdu to English. She was the location sound recordist for the documentary film “Words on Water.”

I For India | England-Italy-Germany | 2005 | 70 Min | Hindi-English

Camera: Sandhya Suri, Lars Lenski
Editing: Cinzia Baldessari, Brian Tagg
Sound: Christine Felce
Script: Sandhya Suri
Producer: Carlo Cresto-Dina
Directed by: Sandhya Suri

Synopsis
In 1965 Yash Pal Suri left India with his wife and young daughter for medical school in the UK. The first thing he did on his arrival in England was to buy two Super 8 cameras, two projectors and two reel to reel recorders, sending one set of equipment to his family back home. For 40 years he shared his life abroad with those back home. As time passed and the planned return to India became an increasingly remote possibility, the joy and curiosity of the early exchanges gave way to the darker reality of alienation, racism and a family falling apart. “I for India” is a tale of migration and belonging, told primarily through Super-8 films and audio letters sent between India and England over a period of almost 40 years.

About the Filmmaker
After graduating with a first class honors degree in mathematics and German, Sandhya Suri received a scholarship to study documentary at The National Film and Television School. Her graduation film “Safar” was shown at a number of international film festivals, receiving the jury’s special mention at the Cinema du Reel and the award for Best Short Film at the British Film Institute’s Imagine Asia Festival. Currently based in London, she has lived in Germany, India and Japan and worked on documentary projects in Africa, South America and Polynesia. “I for India” is her first feature length documentary.

“Ik Dehara Talib Hussain Nal” (A Day With Talib Hussain) | Pakistan | 2005 | 12 Min | Punjabi

Camera: Muhammed Sohail Azad
Editing: Muhammed Sohail Azad
Sound: Abid Hassan Abbasi
Music: Umram Tabassum
Producer: Film and Television Department. National College of Arts, Lahore
Directed by: Mahvish Batool

Synopsis
This documentary provides an insight into life in the walled city of Lahore. It reveals the problems and issues being faced by the common people by following a ‘mobile barber’, who provides his services house to house. These barbers are rare to find these days in the urban areas because their children, who think of their fathers’ professions as obsolete, prefer setting up trendier barber shops.

About the Filmmaker
Mahvish Batool hails from the city of Jhang and is a first year student in the department of Film and Television at the National College of Arts, Lahore. ‘A Day With Talib Hussain’ was a college project and is her first ever documentary film.

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