7th KaraFilm Festival - Karachi International Film Festival 2009



Documentary Films \| Short Films \| Feature Films

Documentary Films Jury
	A journalist for almost 20 years, Naziha Syed Ali worked in the print media for much of this time, including a long stint as assistant editor at Newsline. After completing her masters in TV Journalism from the University of London, she switched to broadcast and set up a film unit at Newsline. She went on to produce documentaries on a number of subjects, including corruption in Pakistan’s public education system and the dancing girls of Lahore. Naziha is currently executive producer of her own company called Periscope which specialises in documentaries, both corporate and social. Being a bit of a news junkie, she also works for Channel Four News as their stringer in Pakistan.
	Meenu Gaur is an independent filmmaker based in New Delhi and London. She obtained a masters degree in film and video from the Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC), JMI University, New Delhi. She is currently a Felix Scholar and doctoral candidate at the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Her research focuses on Hindi cinema and has been presented at various international conferences. She also teaches video and runs media training workshops at SOAS. In addition, Meenu is presently co-editing a book titled Indian Mass Media and the Politics of Change. She is the co-founder of the London-based independent media collective Sacredmediacow. Her film, “Paradise on a River of Hell”, a mapping of personal and collective memories of Kashmir, received a ‘Special Recognition’ at the 3rd KaraFilm Festival.
	Shandana Minhas’ production credits include the short film “Doctor” which she co-directed with Maheen Zia and the documentaries “Lyari Expressway: Development or Destruction” and “Gwadar: Between Golden Acres and the Deep Blue Sea.” Her first novel Tunnel Vision was published in 2007 by Roli Books and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her column Don’t Shoot the Messenger appears in The News on Sunday. Her novella Rafina is being adapted into a feature film by director Sabiha Sumar. Shandana’s first collection of poetry will be published in 2009 and she is currently working on her second novel.



Short Films Jury
	Born in 1975 in Bremen, Andre Höermann has been working with the DCTP Research and Development Company on television programming, film projects and media research since 1995. He studied social sciences and economics at Humboldt University in Berlin and subsequently went on to study film and television at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf” Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 2003 he was nominated for the First Steps Award for a commercial he made while still training as a filmmaker. He undertook a six month study tour of Hanoi in 2004 as well as a three month study tour of Kolkata in 2006. He has directed several short films and documentaries, including “Das Manifest” (2003) and “Calcutta Calling” (2006), which have been screened around the world. He most recently completed the short film “Atemlos” (2006).
	Faiza S Khan is a columnist, critic and currently an editor at the Herald. She has worked as a freelance journalist since 1999 and has written extensively on film, literature and society. She has been published in a variety of Pakistani publications, most regularly The Friday Times, where she was also features editor for a number of years. She has served as a public relations coordinator at Merchant Ivory Productions, as a director’s assistant to Mehreen Jabbar on the television drama “Aur Zindagi Badalti Hai” and as an editor for Vanguard Books in Lahore.
	With a BFA in Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and an MA in Media, Culture & Technology from the University of Luton/Bedfordshire (UK), Amean J. is a Canadian Pakistani currently based in Karachi. Amean’s work and name have been featured in publications such as The New Yorker, Colors, Herald and Newsline and books such as 1000 signs by Taschen. Amean has also been a part time faculty member at the University of Karachi, and conducts filmmaking and photography workshops at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture and Iqra University. In addition, Amean is a founding member of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan and runs his own photography studio, 18% grey.



Feature Films Jury
	Javed Shaikh is one of Pakistan’s most well known film personalities who has also made a mark across the border in India. He began his career on Pakistan Radio but became a household name with acting turns in landmark television dramas such as “Shama”, “Dhund” and “Ankahi” before moving into films. He has acted in over 30 films to date including, most recently, in Indian films such as “Om Shanti Om” (2007), “Jannat” (2008) and “Money Hai Tau Honey Hai” (2008). He made his directorial debut in 1995 with “Mushkil” and followed up with the hits “Chief Saab” (1996) and “Yes Boss” (1998). His 2002 film “Yeh Dil Aapka Hua” was a superhit in Pakistan and was also released in the UK. His most recent directorial venture - his seventh - was “Khulay Aasman Kay Neechay” (2008).
	Khusro Mumtaz is a banker but has written extensively on film, theatre and music for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Currently he writes film reviews for Dawn’s weekly Review magazine and Visage and also writes an op-ed column for daily The News. He also co-hosted a popular movie review show on television, “Silver Screen”, for three years on AAJ TV. Khusro Mumtaz is the first recipient of the KaraFilm Society Recognition for Film Criticism.
	An actor, director and broadcast personality, Ayeshah Alam began her career in the media as a model. Having done her share of fashion and music videos, she soon moved on to more challenging assignments, directing and producing films for television and acting on stage. Her performances in avant garde fare such as “The Vagina Monologues” for stage and Moth Smoke adaptation “Daira” for television, won her many rave reviews, also garnering her the Ciepie for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role at the 3rd KaraFilm Festival. She also hosts shows on radio and television.
	Hameed Haroon is the Chief Executive Officer and publisher of the Dawn Group of Publications and the former president of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society as well as a man of art, culture, theatre, music and film. He owns one of the most extensive collections of art in Pakistan, and co-curated the widely acclaimed retrospective exhibition in Karachi of the Pakistani master Sadequain. He has been associated with the theatre in London, and has directed stage plays in Karachi. His passion for the documentation and promotion of sufi shrine music at the Bhit Shah shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai earned him, in 1994, the Latif Award, the highest cultural award in the Sindh province. He is also currently involved in documenting and issuing the collected works of the famed Pakistani singer Noor Jehan. On the board of a number of art and culture institutions, Hameed has also served as the Chairman for the National Task Force on Culture in the Federal Ministry for Culture (1999) and was recently awarded the Order of Merit by Italy. He has grown up watching and following Pakistani cinema and has a deep and abiding interest in international cinema.
	Mohammad Hanif is a journalist and a writer. He has written plays for the stage and BBC radio, and his film “Raat Chali Hai Jhoom Ke” was shown at the inaugural KaraFilm Festival. His first novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes was long listed for Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for Guardian First Book Prize and won Shakti Bhatt First Book Award. He is currently BBC’s correspondent based in Karachi.
	Talat Aslam is the Editor of The News, Karachi. He moved to his current position in 2004 after spending two years at Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English language newspaper, as its Features Editor. Until March 2001, he worked for Geo TV where he was part of the team that initiated the process of setting up a South Asian satellite television channel. From 1985 to 1997, Talat worked for the Herald, the country’s leading monthly magazine. He was the editor of the Herald between 1992 and 1997. During his stint at the Herald, he wrote numerous articles on the cinema and remained one of its most widely read film critics. Talat has also written scripts for television and a documentary. His love for cinema, both local and foreign, has remained the one constant in his career.

“No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” - Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director of “The Seventh Seal”