Narration: Ehteshamuddin
Cinematography: Imran Siddiqui
Editing: Waqar Khan
Script: Ehteshamuddin
Producer: Naziha Syed Ali, Newsline Films
Directed by: Maheen Zia

SYNOPSIS
The film documents life today in Lahore's infamous red light district, in the words of the local residents themselves. These testimonials uncover the unglamorous reality of a greatly misunderstood community and hold up an unflattering mirror to the rest of society.

THE FILMMAKER
Maheen Zia is a Karachi-based filmmaker. Besides having directed several documentaries and short films, she was editor for Pakistan's first digital feature film, "The Long Night" (2000). She has served as an international jury member for the Tehran International Short Film Festival 2005 and the Tampere Film Festival 2006. She is also a founder and organizer of the KaraFilm Festival.

AFSPA, 1958
INDIA / 2005 / 77 MIN / ENGLISH-MANIPURI

Cinematography: Saikhom Ratan
Editing: Sankha
Producers: Haobam Paban Kumar, Bachaspatimayum Sunzu
Scripted and
Directed by: Haobam Paban Kumar

SYNOPSIS
Th. Manorama Devi, a 32-year-old lady and a separatist suspect, was picked by the forces of the 17th Assam Rifles from her home on 11th July, 2004. Her dead body was later found near a hillock. People believe that she was raped and later shot. From then onwards, people throughout the state started holding protests and agitations against the excesses of the security forces and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. “AFSPA, 1958” is a diary of events which took place in Manipur from the day Th. Manorama Devi died, till a youth dies setting himself on fire protesting against the Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958.

THE FILMMAKER
Haobam Paban Kumar is about to complete his diploma in film at the Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute, India. He has been making films for over eight years. His latest documentary “A Cry in the Dark” had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2006. “AFSPA, 1958” was awarded the International Critics Prize FIPRESCI and International Jury Award at the 9th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) in 2006. It was also an official selection at the Munich International Film Festival, 2006. Another of his documentaries, “Kangla”, won the award for the Best Educational Programme at the 14th UGC-CEC Educational Video Competition 2001 in India.

An Inconvenient Truth
USA / 2006 / 100 MIN / ENGLISH

Featuring: Al Gore
Editing: Jay Lash Cassidy, Dan Swietlik
Sound: Daniel S. McCoy
Music: Michael Brook, Melissa Etheridge
Producers: Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, Scott Z. Burns
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim

SYNOPSIS
Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced. If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom, think again. This film offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it.

THE FILMMAKER
A graduate of Brown University, Davis Guggenheim moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking. He joined the independent Outlaw Productions, working closely with filmmakers there, including director Steven Soderbergh on the groundbreaking 1989 film “Sex, Lies and Videotape”, and co-producing other feature films with Outlaw. He was an Executive Producer on “Training Day” and has directed a feature film called “Gossip”. He has also directed a number of episodes of critically acclaimed television series such as “Numbers”, “The Shield”, “Alias”, “24”, NYPD Blue”, “ER”, and “Party of Five.” He was Producer and Director of the Emmy Award winning HBO series “Deadwood.” His 1999 documentary “The First Year”, about novice public school teachers, won the Peabody Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Film Festival.

Assimilation No, Integration Yes
CANADA-SWEDEN / 2006 / 24 MIN / ENGLISH-ARABIC

Cinematography: Philip Boag
Editing: Bruce Annis
Scripted, Produced
and Directed by: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

SYNOPSIS
Sweden has the reputation of a wealthy, developed, post-industrial society. But beneath this seeming tranquility lies a simmering tension between Muslim immigrants and native Swedes. The film visits the southern city of Malmo to find out how first and second generation Muslims are integrating into their adopted homeland. In the immigrant ghetto of Rosengard, a moderate mosque is under siege, young Muslims struggle to be accepted by Swedish society and an inspirational Iranian hip hop artist tries to address the problems of the children of Rosengard.
THE FILMMAKER
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a multi-award-winning documentary film director and reporter. Since 2002, she has produced over 10 documentary films in seven countries. Her work has premiered on the Discovery Times Channel, PBS, CBC and Channel 4 (UK). In 2005, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy became the first non-American to be awarded the prestigious Livingston Award for international reporting.

Bienvenidos A Poptun (Welcome to Poptun)
SPAIN-GUATEMALA / 2006 / 11 MIN / SPANISH

Cinematography: Jens Hilgendag
Editing: Juan Leguizamon
Sound: Diego Martinez
Directed by: Marcelo Bukin

SYNOPSIS
This is the story of three children living in Poptun, a remote village in Guatemala. Their innocent lives pass by as they offer shoeshine services. The children’s dirty fingers, which receive a few coins for their services, are later used to feed themselves anything they are able to buy. Upon returning home, they are often beaten by their alcoholic parents.

THE FILMMAKER
Marcelo Bukin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and graduated in film direction from the Centre d’Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Marcelo has travelled, explored and filmed the everyday lives of people of many cultures in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2005-2006 he directed the documentaries “Bread”, “Angel’s Fire”, “Lima’s Streets” and other short films about children working in inhuman conditions in Latin America. Marcelo is currently developing a documentary feature film about the socio-economic crisis of his home country, Argentina, while he continues directing, producing and acting in TV commercials and independent projects.

Cuatro Horas En Chatila (Four Hours In Shatila)
SPAIN / 2005 / 23 MIN / SPANISH

Cinematography: Carlos Lapena
Editing: La Funesta Mania De Pensar
Sound: Wildtrack Sonido
Scripted and
Directed by: Carlos Lapena

SYNOPSIS
In September 1982, the Lebanese Falangista Militia, under the protection of the Israeli Army led by Ariel Sharon, massacred 2,500 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside Beirut. “Cuatro Horas En Chatila” is based on the account of Jean Genet, a witness of the wreckage and the slaughter in Shatila.

THE FILMMAKER
Carlos Lapena is a filmmaker based in Spain.

Daas Kulcha
PAKISTAN / 2006 / 9 MIN 32 SEC / URDU-PUNJABI

Cinematography: Saniya Sohail
Editing: Kashif Malik, Omer Rana
Sound: Haroon Shaikh
Producer: Momina Akram
Scripted and
Directed by: Amna Mumtaz Subzwari

SYNOPSIS
Daas kulcha is a traditional breakfast meal which, approximately a decade ago, was a popular Pakistani dish and quite easily available in the market. Currently, there is only one shop left in the entire country that is still maintaining this fading culinary heritage.

THE FILMMAKER
Amna Mumtaz Subzwari is currently enrolled in the first year of a bachelor’s degree at the Film and Television Department of the National College of Arts, Lahore. Her goal as a filmmaker is to focus on issues that go unnoticed in society.

Darfur Diaries: Message From Home
SUDAN-CHAD-USA / 2005 / 57 MIN / ARABIC-ZAGHAWA-ENGLISH

Cinematography: Adam Shapiro, Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain
Editing: Adam Shapiro
Sound: Ahmad Shirazi
Music: Leonard Hubbard
Written, Produced
and Directed by: Adam Shapiro, Jen Marlowe
and Aisha Bain

SYNOPSIS
In an area of Darfur, cut off to international aid agencies and the media, thousands of Darfurians have suffered widespread atrocities at the hands of the government of Sudan and its proxy militias. "Darfur Diaries: Message From Home" goes behind the lines and presents Darfurians - refugees, displaced people, women, children, grandmothers, farmers, rebels and sheikhs - who tell their stories of life and conflict in Darfur. The film gives historical and political context to the crisis unfolding in Darfur, and presents the voices of the silenced.

THE FILMMAKERS
Adam Shapiro is currently Country Director in Afghanistan for the international human rights organization, Global Rights. He founded InCounter Productions, which produced the documentary film "About Bhagdad" (4th KaraFilm Festival) in 2004, and is a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine, having lived and worked in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for three years. Adam serves on the advisory committee of KinderUSA and on the board of directors of Partners for Peace.

Jen Marlowe directed and coordinated ‘Coexistence in Jerusalem’ at the Seeds of Peace Centre, creating and implementing a co-existence program for hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli youth. She created cross-border video dialogue projects for youth from Israel and Palestine and India and Pakistan.

Aisha Bain is the Asia Program Associate at Global Rights, an NGO focusing on human rights, and has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar. She also served as Deputy Director at the Center for the Prevention of Genocide, where she worked extensively investigating and reporting the massacres in Darfur and Northern Uganda, lobbying for international action, and conducting extensive field research in human trafficking in South-East Asia.

Ek Tha Lalpari
INDIA / 2005 / 46 MIN / HINDI

Narration: Munish
Cinematography: S. Chokalingam
Sound: Dilip Kumar, Shivdass
Editing: Neeraj Grover
Music: Arvinder
Script: S.M. Irfan
Producer: K.S. Media
Director: Rajdeep Randhawa

SYNOPSIS
Lalpari is a transvestite (a hijra, also called eunuchs in the subcontinent) who has been living with a man for almost 20 years as his wife. The man, Neeraj, is a drug addict who nevertheless provides Lalpari with the tenderness that she does not get from society in general. The film explores their often stormy relationship and, specifically, what drives a eunuch to want to live with a man as his wife.

THE FILMMAKER
Rajdeep Randhawa has a masters in history from MDS University in Ajmer, India and an MBA from the EMPI Business School in Delhi. He is a freelance still photographer and has also worked on radio and television as a scriptwriter and researcher. He has directed a number of spots and programmes for radio and has been working as a dubbing director for UTV Software Communications since June 2001, dubbing programmes for channels such as National Geographic, Discovery, History and Hungama as well as for some animated and live action feature films for children. "Ek Tha Lalpari", his directorial debut, was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival.

Francois Truffaut, Une Autobiographie (Francois Truffaut, An Autobiography)
FRANCE / 2004 / 78 MIN / FRENCH

Featuring: Francois Truffaut, Woody Allen, Fanny Ardant, Claude Berri,
Catherine Deneuve, Milos Forman, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Adjani
Cinematography: Florian Bouchet
Editing: Yvan Gaillard
Music: Vincent Delerm
Producer: Christiane Graziani
Scripted and
Directed by: Anne Andreu

SYNOPSIS
Francois Truffaut placed real life and its experiences at the heart of his work. Everything he wrote, filmed and conceived, was sifted through the filter of his emotions, with his 21 feature films painting a full self-portrait of the man. The filmmaker takes centre stage in this film. Yet the film does more than pay tribute to the filmmaker’s glory. It looks at the extent of his legacy, by giving a voice to a new generation of film buffs who, now as before, find hope in Truffaut’s cinema. Part of the 6th KaraFilm Festival’s Retrospective of Francois Truffaut.

THE FILMMAKER
Born in 1939 in Paris, France, Anne Andreu has worked mostly in television as a director, producer and writer. Her other films as director include portraits of filmmakers Juliette Binoche, Romy Schneider, Youssef Chahine and Humbert Balsan. She has also served as art director and executive producer on the collaborative film “Lumiere and Company.”

Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme
USA / 2006 / 75 MIN / ENGLISH

Cinematography: Todd Hickey, Daniel Kozman, Brian Bellamy
Editing: Isaac Solotaroff, Rachel Ramist
Sound: Ty Bertrand
Music: Darkleaf, DJ Organic, Omid
Producer: Henry Alex Rubin
Directed by: DJ Organic

SYNOPSIS
Explosively documenting the story of a group of underground hip-hop MCs and DJs from the early 1980s to the present day, “Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme” is a film that explores the world of improvisational rap – the rarely recorded art form of rhyming spontaneously. Made over the course of over seven years by a co-operative of filmmakers, B-Boys, DJs and MCs, known as The Centre for Hip-Hop Education, “Freestyle” takes the viewer on a journey through the previously unexamined dimensions of hip-hop as a spiritual and community-based art form.

THE FILMMAKER
DJ Organic (Kevin Fitzgerald) was born to a West Indian mother and an Irish-American father in New York in the early 1970s, and has been DJ-ing since the age of 14. He is the co-founder of the popular radio show, All@One Point on KPFK 90.7 FM. Kevin is also the a founding organizer of The Centre for Hip-Hop Education. Shortly after being awarded a scholarship to attend a film production program from the University of California, Kevin seriously started studying, researching and documenting hip-hop. Shooting for “Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme” began with equipment and supplies he gained access to through his classes.

From Dust
UAE-SRI LANKA / 2005 / 56 MIN / ENGLISH-SINHALA

Narration: Dhruv Dhawan
Cinematography: Dhruv Dhawan
Editing: Nirmal Chander
Sound: Niranka Abesoorya
Music: Emma Kennedy, Sidarth Misra
Script: Dhruv Dhawan, Nirmal Chander
Produced and
Directed by: Dhruv Dhawan

SYNOPSIS
A cinematic expose that takes an incisive look at a government’s response to a natural disaster. Shot in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, this documentary brings us into close contact with three people, and questions why survivors in Sri Lanka weren’t allowed to rebuild their homes along the country’s coastline.

THE FILMMAKER
Dhruv Dhawan was born in Bombay, and studied in Dubai and the United States. Inspired by the diversity and scope of human experience, he nurtured his passion for documentary filmmaking. Studying cultural anthropology and film at Duke University in the US, Dhruv went on to train as a director in New York, focusing his skills in ethnographic and observational cinema. He has nine years of experience in cinematography, and he shoots his own films to create an intimate feel and reflexive style in his work. Dhruv currently freelances as a director and writer in the United Arab Emirates, where he creates work for the broadcast industry and the commercial sector.

Fuego de Angel (Angel’s Fire)
SPAIN-PERU / 2006 / 13 MIN / SPANISH

Cinematography: Jens Hilgendag
Editing: Juan Leguizamon
Sound: Diego Martinez
Written and
Directed by: Marcelo Bukin

SYNOPSIS
Eight-year-old Angel works in a brick-manufacturing factory. The forced work that takes place under extreme and inhuman conditions is the starting point to understand his life, his friends and the harsh environment. In this hopeless community, the suffering of the adults is sometimes turned into physical aggression against their children.

THE FILMMAKER
Marcelo Bukin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and graduated in film direction from the Centre d’Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Marcelo has travelled, explored and filmed the everyday lives of people of many cultures in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2005-2006 he directed the documentaries “Bread”, “Angel’s Fire”, “Lima’s Streets” and other short films about children working in inhuman conditions in Latin America. Marcelo is currently developing a documentary feature film about the socio-economic crisis of his home country, Argentina, while he continues directing, producing and acting in TV commercials and independent projects.

Gwadar: Between Golden Acres and the Deep Blue Sea
PAKISTAN / 2006 / 33 MIN / ENGLISH-URDU-BALOCHI

Narration: Arif Abrar
Cinematography: Maheen Zia, Abuzar Khan
Editing: Maheen Zia
Script: Shandana Minhas
Producer: IUCN Gwadar Office
Directed by: Maheen Zia

SYNOPSIS
The film anticipates the social and environmental effects of the development unfolding at a stormy pace along Pakistan's Mekran coastline, and makes a case for the preservation of this unique natural heritage.

THE FILMMAKER
Maheen Zia is a Karachi-based filmmaker. Besides having directed several documentaries and short films, she was editor for Pakistan 's first digital feature film, "The Long Night" (2000). She has served as an international jury member for the Tehran International Short Film Festival 2005 and the Tampere Film Festival 2006. She is also a founder and organizer of the KaraFilm Festival.

Halqa Haye Gumshuda (Missing Links)
IRAN / 2005 / 32 MIN / PERSIAN

Cinematography: Abbas Saheb
Editing: Vahid Baqerzade
Sound: Abbas Saheb
Producer: Orod Attarpour
Scripted and
Directed by: Mehrdad Zahedian

SYNOPSIS
On a trip to Europe in 1890, Mozaffardenshah, King of Iran at that time, was introduced to cinematography and its instruments for the first time. He became so interested in the new invention that he brought a cinematographer with him to Iran and ordered the making of film records of daily events around him. There had been no trace of the reels for years until 1981, when some of them were found in Golestan Palace. This documentary depicts what happened to those reels and shows some parts of their restored scenes.

THE FILMMAKER
Born in 1963 in Hamedan, Iran, Mehrdad Zahedian has a BA in photography and an MA in philosophy from Tehran University. He is the director of several documentaries and three short films. “Missing Links” won the Special Award of the Ministry of Culture of Macedonia.

I Was A Teenage Feminist
USA-CANADA / 2005 / 62 MIN / ENGLISH

Narration: Therese Schechter
Cinematography: Therese Shechter, Jason Weber,
Russell O’Malley
Animation: Luke Murphy
Music: Lou Pomanti
Producer: Barbara Barde
Scripted and
Directed by: Therese Shechter

SYNOPSIS
An edgy, irreverent, funny, emotional, profound, serious and important journey into the heart of feminism on the threshold of the 21st century. The film is also a very personal journey into a powerful political movement that once sparked passionate response and social revolution, but now routinely evokes discomfort, indifference and even disdain. Therese Schechter asks fundamental questions: How did feminism lose its voice? Does it even exist today and for that matter, what is feminism?

THE FILMMAKER
Therese Shechter is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn. “I Was a Teenage Feminist” had its New York premiere in September 2005. She is currently in production on a new documentary “The American Virgin”, about sex education in America, and has also made a documentary short “How I Learned to Speak Turkish”, which won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at the 2005 Atlanta Film Festival.

I’m The Very Beautiful!
INDIA / 2006 / 65 MIN / BENGALI

Cinematography: Satya P. Rath, Gnanasekar
Editing: Namrata Rao
Sound: Pritam Das, Bobby John
Music: Chiradip Dasgupta
Producer: Sanghamitra Karmakar
Written and
Directed by: Shyamal Kumar Karmakar

SYNOPSIS
“I’m The Very Beautiful!” follows a man-woman relationship over six years. The woman is an ‘international’ bar singer by profession who knows her way around the male world, and the man a filmmaker, and also the director of this film. Ranu’s predicament as a poor, exploited bar singer “inspires” the filmmaker to make a film. In a life full of men and stories, the director being just one among many, the relationship grows with the film as the two accept each other despite moral archetypes. The film ultimately turns out to be a sign of their trust and respect for each other as human beings.

THE FILMMAKER
Shyamal Kumar Karmakar has written, directed and edited numerous shorts, documentaries and feature length films, and won a special jury award at the 12th International Children’s Film Festival at the Kolkata International Film Festival 2001 for “Ranu”, a Bengali feature. His short documentary “I Ranu Gayen” was shown at the Himal Festival, Nepal, in 2001, and at the 2nd KaraFilm Festival in 2002, and was one of five films packages of South Asia selected for the Outstanding World Cinema section, IFFK, 2002.

In The Wake of the Earthquake
PAKISTAN / 2005 / 16 MIN / ENGLISH

Narration: Zainab Omar
Cinematography: Capt M. Faisal Satti, Malik Sohail, Sajid Hameed, Bakhat Ali Abro, Tanveer Malik
Editing: Naveed Rehman
Sound: Raja Bilal, Chaudhry Atif
Script: Safeer Shakaib
Producer: Lt Col Syed Mujtaba Tirmizi
Directed by: Asad Qureshi

SYNOPSIS
October 8th, 2005, started off as just another day. Children were already in school when, at 8:45 am, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Pakistan with such ferocity that people thought doomsday has struck. By midday, reports were coming in about the massive devastation in the Northern Areas of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The gravity of the tragedy gradually unfolded. In Azad Kashmir and in the North West Frontier Province, scores of cities and hundreds of surrounding villages were reduced to dust and debris. In just seconds, more than 73,000 people were buried under a shower of stones, wood and concrete, and over 95,000 others were injured, many of them maimed for life.

THE FILMMAKER
Asad Qureshi has various films and documentaries to his credit as a director. He has worked in Hollywood, and is currently employed as a director of productions in the Image of Pakistan project.

Khadim-e-Zuljinah (Servant of Zuljinah)
PAKISTAN / 2006 / 14 MIN 15 SEC / URDU

Cinematography: Khizar Idrees
Editing: Kashif
Sound: Muhammad Adeel Siddiqui
Producer: Aliza Ruhail
Written and
Directed by: Zaheer-ud-Din Shahid

SYNOPSIS
“Khadim-e-Zuljinah” reflects the spiritual affiliation of the Shia community with the sacred horse Zuljinah. It shows the relationship between an animal and the man who owns it, but because of religious beliefs, the man acts as a servant to the animal. The film also explains why this particular horse is given so much importance and respect in the Shia community.

THE FILMMAKER
Zaheer-ud-Din Shahid is a first year student of film and television at the National College of Arts in Lahore. This is his first short documentary film.

Kya Hum Wada Nibha Rahay Hain? (Are We Keeping The Promise?)
PAKISTAN / 2006 / 20 MIN / URDU

Narration: Ghazal Siddiqui
Cinematography: Imran Siddiqui
Editing: Syed Ali Nasir
Music: Athar Saeed
Written and
Produced by: Naziha Syed Ali
Directed by: Syed Ali Nasir

SYNOPSIS
Pakistan is home to over 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Yet they remain a hidden community, afraid to seek medical or psychological help. They cope as best they can – alone. HIV/AIDS is not like other infections – the stigma of being HIV positive robs people not only of their health, but of self-respect, social standing, economic well-being, and sometimes, even family.

THE FILMMAKER
Syed Ali Nasir grew up in Karachi and spent his college years in Boston before heading back to Pakistan to take up his true passion: filmmaking. In the four years since, he has travelled all over the region, directing documentaries and news reports for a diverse group of clients, including Channel 4 and Mercy Corps. His short film “Lust” won him the Best Emerging National Talent award at the 4th KaraFilm Festival in Karachi. After working with Newsline Films, he now directs documentaries under the banner of Periscope.