Cinematography: Mahera Omar, Sohail Ahmed
Editing: Mahera Omar
Producers: Getz Pharma, Shehri CBE
Directed by: Mahera Omar

SYNOPSIS
This documentary questions the logic behind many of the controversial projects planned for the coast of Karachi. It explores alternatives to such forms of development in light of the basic principles of urban planning.

THE FILMMAKER
Mahera Omar graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor of arts in biology. She has produced and directed a weekly show on animals for Geo Television, and is the co-founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
Her documentary for Geo TV, ‘Sea Turtles’ was nominated for the Humane Society of the United States 22nd Genesis Award in the Brigitte Bardot International category for “its excellent depiction of the perils facing the endangered sea turtles of Pakistan and the efforts being made to save them.”

Cinematography: Vincent Pinckaers, Claudio Pazienza, Rachel Simoni, Remon Fromont
Editing: Julien Contreau
Sound: Irvic d’ Olivier
Script: Claudio Pazienza
Producer: Patrice Nezan, Claudio Pazienza
Directed by: Claudio Pazienza

SYNOPSIS
The film focuses on the rituals of life and death. The mourning for a father leads to meditation on loss and the exploration of photographs as a means to keep memories alive.

THE FILMMAKER
Claudio Pazienza was born in Italy in 1962. He received a diploma in ethnology at the University of Belgium.

SYNOPSIS
The sandy beaches of Sindh and Baluchistan are important nesting sites for sea turtles. Spending most of their lives in the oceans, adult turtles return to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. After an incubation period of about two months, the youngsters hatch and scramble towards the water. Only one in a thousand survive to adulthood. The main threats to their survival are pollution, loss of nesting and foraging habitats, poaching, predation, being hit by boats, and getting caught in fishing nets.

THE FILMMAKER
Mahera Omar graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor of arts in biology. After a brief stint doing laboratory research on the structure of proteins at the Tufts University Department of Biochemistry, she moved back to Karachi. Her short film “Piano” Premiereed at the 3rd KaraFilm Festival. Omar has produced and directed several other shorts and TV programmes, and is the co-founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society. She’s currently working on a travel series for television, and has been documenting the oral tradition of folk songs about life during pre-partition times in the Indian subcontinent.

Cinematography: Ahmed Bashir
Editing: Niharika Desai
Music: Janek Duszynski
Script: Mohammed Naqvi
Producers: Mohammed Naqvi, Jill Schneider
Directed by: Mohammed Naqvi

SYNOPSIS
“Shame” is the eye-opening saga of an heroic Pakistani woman, Mukhtaran Mai, who spoke out against her community and government after she was sentenced to gang rape for her brother’s alleged infraction. She has become an international symbol for women fighting for their rights.

THE FILMMAKER
Mohammed Naqvi made the award-winning documentary “Terror’s Children” (2003), which launched the Discovery Times Channel. He is the youngest recipient of the prestigious Overseas Press Club of America’s Carl Spielvogel Award, and also a winner of the South Asian Journalist Award. Naqvi is also an AFI: Project 20/20 fellow, an initiative co-sponsored by the NEA, NEH, the US State Department and the President’s Committee on the Arts. Naqvi has also been a guest panellist at the Youth Initiative for Peace Summit (2003) and the US-World Islamic Forum (2007).

“Shame” is his first feature-length documentary, and is made for Showtime Networks.

Narration: Dorothee Wenner, Urmi Juvekar
Cinematography: Bernd Meiners
Editing: Merle Kroger
Sound: Pascal Capitolin
Music: Philip Scheffner
Producer: Merle Kroger
Directed by: Dorothee Wenner and Urmi Juvekar

SYNOPSIS
Arambol is a small village at the northern tip of Goa’s coast, a popular hangout for today’s hippies. The two directors explore what Indians think of Westerners who come to India in search of enlightenment.

THE FILMMAKERS
Dorothee Wenner was born in 1961, and is a freelance filmmaker and journalist based in Berlin. She currently works as the Director of the Berlinale Talent Campus / Berlin International Film Festival. Her recent films include “StarBiz” (2005), “Unser Ausland – 10 Experten Aus 10 Landern” (2002) and “Happy End in Switzerland” (2001).
Urmi Juvekar, born in 1962, is a Bombay-based scriptwriter. Her work includes “Darmiyaan”, “Shararat”, “Rules” and “Pyar Ka Superhit Formula.” In 2005, she directed a documentary on the South Indian Meenakshi Madurai temple as part of the series “Faszination Glaube” for ARTE Television.

Cinematography: Ali Zaidi
Editing: Zafar Ali Baloch and M. Minhaj Khan
Voice: Khalid Moin
Produced and Directed by: Muhammad Imran

SYNOPSIS
The ‘Sheedi’ are an itinerant and down-trodden tribe of the dark continent. In Pakistan, they have found a home and a place to air their hopes, fears and grievances. Experience their amazing traditions, feel the pain in their hearts, listen to the echoes of a distant land in their songs and dance to the beat of their drums. Nothing can dampen the spirit of these children of a lesser God.

THE FILMMAKER
Although Muhammad Imran graduated in applied economics, his innate passion and flair for art and literature brought him into the world of media. He began his career at Aaj TV in 2005, and is currently a producer at TV One and News One.

Cinematography: Mark Smith, Ted Giffords, Justime Evans, Lawrence Gardner, Jameel Ahmed and Chadden Hunter.
Sound: Mohammad Naseer
Editing: Andy Netly
Narration: David Attenborough
Script: Mark Linfield
Produced and Directed by: Vanessa Berlowitz and Jeff Wilson

SYNOPSIS
This documentary captures the elusive snow leopard found in Pakistan’s northern areas. This film took three years to complete and was shot entirely in Chitral and the upper valleys. The wildlife sequences were filmed in high-definition and the film is narrated by the renowned wildlife documentary maker, Sir David Attenborough.

THE FILMMAKERS
Jeff Wilson is an award winning photographer and producer currently working for the BBC Natural History Unit. He has spent his career filming the natural world in the most far flung corners of the planet, from Patagonia to the Antarctic. Prior to his pursuit of snow leopards, Jeff worked on the BBC/Discovery Channel series “Planet Earth.”
Vanessa Berlowitz directed and produced “Plant Predators”, which was nominated for an Emmy as well as the Sophie Grierson award for Documentary. She was also a Producer/Director on “Planet Earth.” In 2007, Vanessa began work on “Frozen Planet”, the follow up to Planet Earth.

Cinematography: Gargey Trivedi
Editing: Shweta Venkat
Sound: Niraj Gera
Script: Faiza Ahmad Khan
Produced and Directed by: Faiza Ahmad Khan

SYNOPSIS
Malagaon, a small town tucked away near the heart of India, is fraught with communal tension and economic depression. As a method of escapism, the locals take refuge in the fantastical world of cinema and make their own socially aware low budget films that are spoofs of Bollywood.

The film reflects the complexities of contemporary India, where the modern and the traditional rub shoulders and where extreme poverty and wealth inhabit the same spaces.

THE FILMMAKER
Faiza Ahmed Khan partook in a course on Social Communications Media in 2002, after which she worked as a production executive in an advertising company. In 2004 she began her freelance career as an assistant on short films and documentaries. She has worked with Manish Jha as chief assistant director for the feature film “Anwar.” This is her first full length documentary.

Cinematography: Ahsan ul Haq
Editing: Adnan Ali
Script: Naveen Qayyum
Produced and Directed by: Naveen Qayyum

SYNOPSIS
Sarah and Azam are friends in the post 9/11 world, where Islam is associated with militarism and Christian minorities face a backlash by extremists. Their faiths are different — one is Muslim and the other Christian — but they have much in common: music, friendship, and a human bond. They share their personal experiences and thoughts about their faiths and their increasing connection to post 9/11 geopolitics, Pakistan’s history of dictatorships, and the question of fundamentalism. The film includes comments by prominent figures of inter-religious debate in Pakistan, including Dr. Mehdi Hassan, Dr. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Bishop Alexander John Malik and Reverend Elvin Wilson.

THE FILMMAKER
Naveen Qayyum is a communication consultant at CCA (Christian Conference of Asia), based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She was educated in media studies at Kinnaird College, Lahore, and studied human rights and social justice at SAFHR (South Asian Forum for Human Rights), Nepal. She has been associated with the feminist activist organisation Simorgh in Lahore for a few years and writes for newspapers and publications on dialogue, rights, social justice issues, and ecumenism. “Talking Faith” is Qayyum’s debut documentary film, and was completed with the support of WCC World Youth Programme.

Cinematography: Pablo Rodriguiz
Editing: Ana Rubio and Pablo Zumarraga
Directed by: Gabriela and Sally Gutierrez Dewar

SYNOPSIS
In Freedom Park, a squatter settlement in South Africa, a group of HIV-infected former sex-workers have created a network called “Tapologo.” They are home-based carers of their community, transforming degradation into solidarity and squalor into hope. Catholic Bishop Kevin Dowling participates in “Tapologo” and raises doubts on the official doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding AIDS and sexuality in the African context.

THE FILMMAKER
Sally Gutiérrez-Dewar , a visual artist currently based in Madrid, developed her career in Berlin and New York where she lived for 11 years. She has taught at the New York University and is involved in art education activities.

Gabriela Gutiérrez-Dewar has 12 years of experience as a television producer, and is currently co-director of Estación Central de Contenidos, a production company where she works on TV projects and feature documentary films.

Gabriela and Sally aim to develop a new audiovisual language by hybridizing visual art forms and documentary film techniques. Tapologo is the second project in this line of work.