Islamabad, 3 June 2022 (TDI): Pakistan’s DOC-GILGIT Fellows embark on a 5-week documentary filmmaking workshop with the talented team of Documentary Association Pakistan (DAP).
The project will facilitate as well as amplify original storytelling from the youth of the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
ڈاکومینٹری ایسوسی ایشن پاکستان کی باصلاحیت ٹیم کے ساتھ پانچ ہفتوں کی دستاویزی فلم سازی کی ورکشاپ کا آغاز کرتے ہوئے آٹھ #DocGilgit فیلوز کے لیے نیک خواہشات۔ یہ منصوبہ گلگت بلتستان کے نوجوانوں کو حقیقی کہانی سنانے میں سہولت اور وسعت دے گا۔ https://t.co/8ZujtJ9fHk
— France in Pakistan 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@FranceinPak) June 2, 2022
DAP: Documentary Association Pakistan
It is an initiative that promotes the art of documentary films in Pakistan. DAP also strengthens the community of documentary filmmakers and provides mentorship in the country. More to this, it provides training to documentary filmmakers working in Pakistan.
Through organizing film screenings across the country in public spaces for free, DAP works in popularizing the culture of documentary watching in Pakistan.
In addition to this, DAP forms collaborations with like-minded partner venues. As well as screening documentary films that are succeeded by powerful discussions between their audiences and the filmmaker.
Collectively, DAP works in a close manner with documentary filmmakers to make networking and training opportunities available for them through organizing filmmaker meet-ups and training workshops.
A majority of documentary filmmakers in Pakistan work in an independent manner. Therefore, it is very important for them to have access to a platform like DAP which intends to bring documentary filmmakers together.
First Gilgit Baltistan Film Festival
In 2018, Pakistan Youth Outreach launched the First Gilgit Baltistan Film Festival in collaboration with United Nation Development program Pakistan (UNDP).
Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan, Kazim Niaz, Assistant Country Director UNDP, Aman Ullah Khan, Colonel staff FCNA, other Government officials, and representatives of INGOs and NGOs were present at the event.
Gilgit Baltistan’s first-ever Karakorum International Mountain Film Festival 2018 gained a positive response on its launch.
All in all, the purpose of the event was for promoting the Region of Gilgit-Baltistan for all-season tourism, to engage local mountaineers, outdoor sports activities, and winter Olympics sports, and to encourage artists, photographers, and filmmakers.
Pakistan and filming
Saim Sadiq’s directorial film Joyland was the first Pakistani entry at the Cannes Film Festival at the same time making history.
Moreover, Abid Aziz Merchant and Seemab Gul worked together and created a film called Sandstorm that was chosen for the 2021 Venice Film Festival and Sundance in 2022.
Gul and Merchant have also worked on the Haven of Hope film that recently gained recognition at Cannes as they completed their La Fabrique Cinema Program.
Previously, in 2019, filmmakers from Pakistan and Nepal made it to the list of 15 directors for Cinefondation’s Atelier program at the Cannes Film Festival.
Thus, Iram Parveen Bilal from Pakistan headed to the French Riviera with her project Wakhri, which was based on a social media star in Pakistan.
Bilal has been viewed as a young leading light of the Pakistan New Wave. In line with this, she is the founder of Pakistan’s first professional screenwriting lab named Qalambaaz.
