Pakistan is brimming with great young talent and one such group of talented people is our young filmmakers.
The Izhar by Film Fellowship (IBFF), an initiative of Morango Films, with support from UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) showcased the talent of 60 young filmmaking trainees and held a screening ceremony of the top 25 short films produced by these trainees from across Pakistan.
IBFF is a fellowship program which works for the social and political rights of women.
The trainees aimed to raise awareness on social matters through 60 second documentaries that highlighted the state of women in our society.
The screening took place on Thursday 30 March 2017 at the National Library of Pakistan, in Islamabad.
The jury consisted of famous music video and commercial film directors including Amena Khan and Sohail Javed; Founder of Morango Films Abrar Ul Hassan; Co-Founder of 60SIFF and Morango Films Affan Alam; and Social Media Director Laiq Qureshi.
The top 3 fellows received scholarship grants of Rs 100,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.
During the ceremony, Abrar ul Hassan (Co-Founder Morango Films) said:
“It is overwhelming to have received such highly impacting films made by the aspiring youngsters, who have endeavored to depict aspects of rights of women in a very realistic way.”
Sangeeta Thapa (Chief Guest and Deputy Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan) appreciated Morango Films for the first-ever IBFF and said:
“It is heartening to see the overwhelming response to the fellowship and strong messages that have been shared with us through these films. We all have a role in creating awareness on political and social rights of women, whether through films or any other medium. As advocates and champions for gender equality, your messages can and do impact the way people perceive the roles and rights of women. On behalf of UN Women, I congratulate each one of and we look forward to together ‘Stepping It up for Gender Equality where we have a Planet 5050 by 2030.”
This collaboration between UN Women and Morango Films falls under UN Women’s project on “Women’s Peace, Security, Rights and Voice: safe public spaces, community outreach and empowerment, and political awareness and advocacy” with support of the Government of Australia.