Editing: Nofil Naqvi
Script: Hasan Mujtaba
Producer: BBC Urdu
Directed by: Mazhar Zaidi

SYNOPSIS
“Nar Narman” is a short documentary on the life of Pakistani poet, Iftikhar Naseem, who lives in Chicago. The celebrated poet is regarded as the Urdu language’s first gay poet of modern times and has been inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. Along with his poetry, Ifti, as he is known among his friends, has been actively involved in the civil rights movement in the United States. Ifti’s flamboyance has always landed him in controversy.

THE FILMMAKER
Mazhar Zaidi co-directed the documentary “Ye Hui Na Mardon Wali Baat” with Farjad Nabi in 2000. He has also directed a short film, “Virtual Lives”, as part of Duss Goongi Filmien. He has produced many other short films for BBC Urdu and Matteela.

Cinematography: Bimal Biswas, SatyaPrakash Rath
Editing: Amitava Singha
Sound: Bhaskar Pal
Produced and
Directed by: Brahmanand Singh

SYNOPSIS
The film is about one of the most versatile composers in the Hindi film music industry, RD Burman. “Pancham Umixed : Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai”, takes an incisive look into the composer’s reflective artistry and provides an insight into his often buoyant, and sometimes lonely, inner being. Featuring the testimonials of close friends, colleagues and admirers, the film attempts to evoke awe, admiration and nostalgia much in the way his own music does.

THE FILMMAKER
Brahmanand Singh is a Bombay based writer and filmmaker. He has published stories and essays in India and abroad, written screenplays and made documentaries and short films. Prominent among his documentaries are “Asghari Bai”, “A Burden of Love”, and “Uncaging the Body” which also won the Apsara Award for Best Short Film 2003-4. He has written a great deal on music, cinema and literature. He is currently working on two feature films.

SYNOPSIS
The Police Order of 2002 was an attempt to move away from the colonial 1861 Police Act inherited from the British and to replace it with a policy document that would envisage the creation of a public friendly, service oriented body. Even before the Police Order could be implemented, it became the victim of a number of amendments that were introduced with the express purpose of watering it down. This documentary takes a hard look at the situation on the ground, and at what, if anything, has changed since. It uncovers the impact of this process on citizens while pondering on the question: who does the police force really serve?

THE FILMMAKER
Maheen Zia graduated in Journalism & Mass Communication from Drake University, USA, in 1996. She returned to Pakistan in 1997 to join a post-production facility as editor. In the following year she left regular employment to pursue her own projects and has since directed several short films and documentaries, including the shorts “Baba Snooker” (2001), “Doctor” (2003), and “Eclipse” (2005), and the documentaries “The People vs Lyari Expressway” (2002), “Gwadar - Between Golden Acres and the Deep Blue Sea” (2006), and “Aaj Bazaar Mein” (2006). She is a founding member of the KaraFilm Society and has served as a jury member on several international film festivals.

Cinematography: Abuzar Khan, Aniqa Naz, Amar Mahboob
Editing: Amar Mahboob
Voice: Amar Mahboob
Directed by: Amar Mahboob

SYNOPSIS
The Thar Desert of Pakistan has a hauntingly beautiful landscape and its inhabitants live a very unique lifestyle. While droughts have frequently devastated this enchanting land, Thar is also one of the most culturally rich and diverse places in Pakistan. A little rainfall turns this desert into a lush wilderness with pristine landscapes. This documentary aims to present Thar in it true colours.

THE FILMMAKER
Amar Mahboob is a freelance documentary filmmaker. He makes documentaries focused on the environment, conservation and health. His first film “Drowning the Lakes” (2002) was about the Chotiari reservoir project in Sindh. Amar also specializes in underwater videography. He currently shares his underwater experiences with communities on the internet.

Editing: Ranjan De
Sound: Asheesh Pandya
Music: Arjun Sen
Script: Priyanka Mukherjee
Producer: PSBT
Directed by: Gargi Sen and Priyanka Mukherjee

SYNOPSIS
This film presents the life and work of Rehana Adib, who works with women from marginalised communities in Muzzafarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. A woman from a minority community, a mother of six, a challenger of traditions, a crusader for social change, her journey is documented in the film, which attempts to understand the genesis and emergence of a leader.

THE FILMMAKERS
Gargi Sen studied design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and later completed her masters in mass communication from Leicester University. In the mid-eighties, while working with marginalized communities, she began making documentaries on social issues. She is one of the founders of Magic Lantern Foundation and teaches film and communication.
Priyanka Mukherjee has a masters degree in political science from Delhi University. She has also studied mass communication, and attended workshops on film appreciation and environment in Delhi, India. This film is her directorial debut.

Cinematography: Gaurav Jani
Editing: Sankalp Meshram
Script: Gaurav Jani
Producer: Dirt Track Productions
Directed by: Gaurav Jani

SYNOPSIS
“Riding Solo to the Top of the World” is the unique experience of a lonesome traveller. He rides his motorcycle all the way from Mumbai to one of the most remote places in the world: the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh, bordering China. A one-man film unit, he films the landscapes through which he passes and the people he interacts with, capturing moments of beauty, pain, love, hardship, self-doubt and spiritual triumph.

THE FILMMAKER
Gaurav Jani assisted the noted filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma on the feature film “Jungle.” During filming in the jungles of South India, he realised that all he wanted to do in life was to travel and be with nature. This is his first film.

Cinematography: Stephen Watson
Editing: Stephen Watson, Paul Henry, Marylouise Caldwell
Sound: Stephen Watson
Script: Stephen Watson
Producers: Marylouise Caldwell, Paul Henry
Directed by: Stephen Watson

SYNOPSIS
“Right To Life” highlights the complexities of implementing much needed reform in the public obstetric/gynaecological healthcare sector of Pakistan. Every year, approximately 35,000 women die from pregnancy-related complications, while 375,000 suffer severe post-natal injuries. These figures place Pakistan’s maternal death and mortality rates as the highest in South Asia.

THE FILMMAKER
Stephen Watson has worked freelance in film and television for over a decade. He has produced and shot a number of documentary series for subscription television, as well as an advocacy campaign for UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children. He is currently working on a documentary about HIV Aids in Botswana.

Cinematography: Avishek Roy, Aloke Shetty
Editing and Sound: Aloke Shetty
Script: Aloke Shetty
Producer: National Institute of design
Directed by: Aloke Shetty

SYNOPSIS
“Road to America” explores the life and identity of a small village in Rajasthan, India, called ‘New America’. Filled with humorous anecdotes about how this Brahmin village got its uncanny name, the film also looks at various notions of ‘Americanness’ from a developing nation’s viewpoint.

THE FILMMAKER
Born in 1982, Aloke Shetty graduated in commerce from Bangalore, and joined the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, in 2005 to pursue studies in film and video communication. He is currently in his final year of the programme, and has worked on several PSAs, documentaries and short film projects as part of his curriculum.

Cinematography: Sunny Joseph, Brad Dillon
Editing: Susan Zachariah, Hari Domal
Sound: Indrajit Neogi
Musical Score: Kartik Shah
Producers: National Geographic Channel, Economic Development Board of Singapore.
Directed by: Miriam Chandy Menacherry

SYNOPSIS
This film serves witness to the thousand year old tradition of camel racing as it enters the realm of Science fiction. In response to increased international criticism on child camel jockeys, the Qatari government recently banned the use of children and has decided to replace them with robots. Can robots win the hearts and imagination of the camel crazy public? Will the wealthy sheikhs be tempted to look beyond tradition and spearhead cutting edge robotic science? Follow the gripping account of the races that will determine whether technology can truly break into the traditional bastion of Bedouin camel racing.

THE FILMMAKER
Miriam Chandy Menacherry, is the founder director of Filament Pictures, a Mumbai based production house dedicated to creating socially relevant programming for national and International Channels. She directed the popular series “Back to the Floor” for the BBC, which won the Indian Television Award for “Best Business Series.” Her documentary, “Stuntmen of Bollywood”, for the National Geographic Channel was nominated for the most innovative documentary category at the Showreal Asia Awards. She is the also the winner of the UK Environment Film Fellowship 2007.

Cinematography: Ivan Slipcevic
Editing: Iva Kraljevic
Sound: Tomislav Domes
Musical Score: Zvukbroda
Directed by: Ana Husman

SYNOPSIS
The idea of etiquette is perceived as aiding communication and helping people understand each other. It also claims to help us interact with greater ease and self confidence. This model is particularly applicable in Western civilizations, where compliance with these ‘norms’ discerns the ‘civilized’ from the ‘uncivilized’.
The film deals with customs of eating and drinking, and specifically with the idea of communal lunches, where factors like ‘breeding’ and ‘finesse’ are on display.

THE FILMMAKER
Ana Husnan was born in Zagreb in 1977. She studied multimedia and art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in 2002. Ana has attended many Croatian and International Festivals and screenings.