Workshop 1 – Day 1

­­28^th Jan, day 1 of the workshop.

All the students are now familiar with each other and there’s no hesitancy in the air. The worshop  kicks off with Patrick explaining what a documentary is and further exlained documentary modes and films. The students also pitched in their views and started interacting.

The participants are very interactive when it comes to Q/A sessions. Each one of them has his own point of view and the best part is that they are vocal about it and are not hesitant to share it.

Later Grace took charge and explained how an image can narrate a story on its own. She gave an interesting exercise of creating a photographic essay. The students were given an hour to go around and find interesting stories in their surroundings and depict it through still images. While dong this task, the participant’s energy could clearly be seen.

The instructors also showed several documentaries which gave the students more exposure to the genre and helped them expand their knowledge of the medium.

The workshop was interjected by small tea and lunch breaks giving everybody a chance to mingle and relax. The first day went well being a good mixture of learning and fun.

Photos on Facebook Gallery from Day 1

Patrick returns!

The director of the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF), Patrick Hazard is back in town. Yes, guys the workshops are about to start and I’m extremely excited. I’ll be leaving with all the students to Pasha’s Farm in few hours for ‘Orientation’, where all the strangers are going to be friends.

But before that, I’ve to pick the Lahore students from the Jinnah International Karachi. When Patrick came to Pakistan for the first in 2008 for a conference, who would have thought that in 2010 he’ll be coming back for a project as big as this. As I wrote in my last blog post as well that 30 students are participating in 2010 workshops:

Alizeb Raees (BNU)
Ali hameed (NCA)
Ali Ahmed (PAF)
Ali Ahad Ullah (PAF)
Ali Changezi (PAF)
Alifia Dairkee (Iqra)
Atif Ahmed Qureshi (PU)
Awais Ahmed (PU)
Ghayas uddin (KU)
Hafsa Pasha (IVS)
Huma Akbar (KCW)
Kiran Mushtaq (KCW)
Kamran Khan (PU)
Kayzad Giara (IVS)
Kiran Ahmed (IVS)
M. Ali Sheikh (IVS)
M. Umer Saeed (PU)
M. Bilal Latif (KSA)
M. Zohaib Siddiqui (KU)
Mohib Billoo (GU)
Nabiha Khan (IVS)
Prem Lata (ZAB)
Paiman Hussain (IVS)
Sara Masood (KU)
Sarah Ismail (IVS)
Summayya Hafeez (KU)
Sidra Hamid (KU)
Seher Palijo (KU)
Talha Ahmed (KSA)
Waqqas Hussein (ZAB)

Five students by the name of Ali. All three students from PAF are Ali! Is it something to do with the selection criteria of PAF? Two girls are called Kiran. Two girls are called Sara/Sarah. This is going to be confusingly interesting I guess.

Jokes apart, orientation for the students is at the Pasha’s Farm in the suburbs of Pakistan’s biggest city. Beautiful environment of the farm offers great ambience for art lovers and film is the highest form of art! We all are supposed to stay overnight at Pasha’s Farm, bonfire-night to be exact. My skills for keeping the fire alive are going to be tested soon.

There is a huge, massive water well in the farm, which is dangerous because of being 100 feet deep. So, no one should be doing any masti or fun at the well.

We have planned lots of games for our stay at the farm, let’s see how everything goes. I’ll be meeting Patrick after a gap of 5 months, last time we met in London few days before I left for Italy. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the morning. This is Moiz Masood Sultani signing off as he has to pack his stuff for the farm.

Ciao!
Moiz

LIDF 2009 Experience

Hello everyone!

It’s great to see the ‘Filmmaking for Social Change’ workshops coming back and this year with more student filmmakers, 30 to be specific. Last year, there were 12 students selected. I was one of them. This time I’m in the staff to facilitate the 30 students and their mentors.

What an experience it was for me last year as a student in the LIDF/BHC workshops! I always wanted to be a socio political documentary filmmaker and with this project I got the opportunity to do exactly the same. I would like to share some of my experience with all of you here.

Two trainers came from London, Patrick Hazard, the director of the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF) and Peter Fraser, a journalist, producer and a filmmaker, for guiding us. The 5 day pre-production workshop with Peter Fraser and Patrick Hazard was amazing as we learned a lot from the history of film to the different eras and styles of documentaries. It was better than I expected it to be. We had some really great, healthy and at times heated discussions on various issues with my fellow students during the workshop.

After the pre-production workshop, the trainers left and we had a month and a half for research, scripting and production. It was really time consuming and tough as we had to meet with a lot of concerned people for research and permissions to shoot.

We were given five days to shoot so I had to plan the shooting schedule within five days and it was really tough to align your team/crew, the equipment, the locations, and the character/subject at the same time and at same place. It was an extremely tough and learning experience. I believe that challenges only make you stronger.

Then Peter and Patrick returned from London to spend 5 days with us on post-production, it was great! We had to take some intellectual decisions while editing the footage for the final film. Every single minute there was a learning experience! We had to spend 12 to 15 hours on the edit and I was enjoying every bit of it. I believe that if you are not willing to stay awake all night to do something then there is no point in doing that! You should be strongly passionate about what you do.

Once the film was complete I started packing for London and LIDF. It was an excitement in it’s own league because I’ve never been outside Pakistan and I’ve always heard all the great things about London. While in London and at the LIDF my pre-conceptions about ‘westerners’ shattered as everyone was so nice, gentle and friendly. Everyone appreciated and respected me a lot!

While sitting on the stage in a panel after the screening of our film in LIDF, I was feeling a huge responsibility on my shoulders as a documentary filmmaker and a Pakistani. It was truly great!

Meeting with so many different people related to films broadened my horizon of thought. And couple of people in London are interested in working with me in future, which is fascinating.

Patrick Pearce, a Canadian filmmaker, who was blogging LIDF for an American independent website, invited me to his place in Woodside Park and we went for a bike ride in woods. Wow! It was amazing, truly amazing! I can never forget the experience of cycling in woods in the suburbs of London, I only use to see it in movies and read about it in books. What an ambience it was!

I’m very grateful to the British High Commission for providing this platform for social change. I think they should keep on supporting such collaborations and our youth in future as well.

– Moiz Masood Sultani