Written by: Hurmat Majid
Posted on: February 22, 2023 | 
| 中文
Baira Gharakh by Mehreen Jabbar
Now in its third year, the Divvy Film Festival, a venture of Foundation Art Divvy, focuses on showcasing independent Pakistani films and includes feature films, short films, documentaries, and animated films. This year the Art Divvy Foundation joined hands with the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) to house the film festival at the KLF venue on Friday and Saturday.
A press release issued by the foundation said that the films of each evening have been "curated carefully to create a thoughtful and immersive experience" for the viewers. “The films we are screening cover a multitude of themes that include human stories of love and heartbreak, coming of age, finding oneself, climate change, the trauma of loss, as well as the joy of ordinary and unexpected moments. They tap into experiences and memories within us and highlight the hero within us all,” said the foundation in the release.
Film screening at the auditorium
A total of 16 films, documentary and otherwise, were showcased at the festival split over two days. Since it is impossible to do justice to all of them in one piece of writing, we have picked the top five films to give our brief reviews of them.
The first and perhaps the most well-received film was Mehreen Jabbar’s Baira Gharak. A comedy of errors ensues when a man, his mistress and his wife all find themselves in the same house. The film takes viewers through a rollercoaster of emotions along with the characters. Starring Hajira Yameen, Yasra Rizvi and Khalid Malik, the film is a light watch for anyone wishing to take a short break from their daily life. It is also available on See Prime’s YouTube channel.
‘Old Men’s Gardens’ by Soch Videos, documents the journey of a group of old men who took it upon themselves to bring some joy and greenery to a barren plateau in their area. The men narrate how slowly but surely, they turned the barren lands of the plateau into three different gardens. The men still take care of these gardens themselves and say that the lands are a gift from them to the community in which they live. During the documentary, one realises that a lot of these men were at that point in their lives where most people do not have a purpose to their lives, and the garden gave them a chance to come together and do something productive for not only themselves, but also for those around them. The documentary is available on the Soch YouTube Channel.
Old Men's Garden by Soch Videos
‘Sinf-e-Taal’ by Amna Maqbool and Beenish Sarfaraz, takes viewers through the journey of a woman who breaks social norms in Gilgit Baltistan and practices music professionally so that the musical instruments of her people do not go extinct. One goes through a number of varied emotions as one sees what this young woman had to go through in order to keep her dream alive, in an area where one often faces severe social consequences for making such choices.
A snap from Sinf-e-Taal (Woman of Melody)
‘Dayal - Among the Spirits’ by Syed Muneeb Kazmi, takes viewers on the exploratory journey of the shamans of Gilgit Baltistan. Shamanism is considered the oldest form of spiritual healing, many of the archeologic artefacts depict that its roots lie in the Paleolithic era (40000 to 50000 years old). The film takes the viewers through a Shaman’s journey, and is an effort to preserve the dying art of shamanism.
Dayal - Among the Spirits by Syed Muneeb Kazmi
Lastly, ‘Intezar Farmaye’ by Ali Mehdi is a look at Pakistani history told through the eyes of a family, and what they see/experience through their television screen. From the time of black and white television and one single channel, to the time of cable and multiple international television channels, the film takes viewers through the experiences of a family that is only experiencing the world through the television screen. The film recounts an average lower-income Pakistani family’s relationship with the news, and how their lives are shaped by it.
Intezar Farmaiye by Ali Mehdi
Other films on the roster included The Land of My Forefathers by Irfan Noor, A Night with Noorjehan by Mariam Majid, Sea Birds by Sawera Jehan, B for Naoo by Roofi Kashfi, Ramz by Danyal Najam, Lahooti by Matheo and Sabastian, Delirium by Ahmed Sameer, One Way Glass by Nauman Khalid, Kaanch by Uzair and Afreen, My Mother’s Daughter by Ahmed and Maryam, and Stray Dogs Come Out at Night by Hamza Bangash.
Foundation Art Divvy provides a platform at an institutional level, locally and internationally in order to expand Pakistani art, culture and narrative’s global and local reach. It supports and develops large-scale exhibitions of contemporary Pakistani art and culture in public spaces. After showcasing the films in Karachi, the festival will move to Lahore and Islamabad. The schedules for Lahore and Islamabad will be issued later.
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