Film, whether amateur, commercial or art, is one of the most powerful media in terms of depicting a society’s values and current thinking. From Hollywood to Bollywood to Iranian cinema, this medium has been used to highlight issues pertinent to a society’s existence while many a time, also used as a tool for propaganda and diplomacy.

With the fall of Pakistani cinema from grace over the years, there have been a few platforms for amateur film-makers to experiment and present their art to a thinking audience. Kara Film Festival was a beacon of hope that, to some extent, brought Pakistani artists, directors and documentary makers into limelight. While an impressive achievement in its own right, Kara is still far off to many amateur artists who cannot afford the budget or time to cope with the frenzy of such a film festival.

Then came FiLUMS; the landmark event of LUMS Media Arts Society, that provided a reachable platform to budding film-makers regardless of their backgrounds, nature of subjects of interest and any budgetary constraints. Since it’s inception in 2006, FiLUMS has been a regular occurrence that grows even bigger and better with each passing year.

This year, FiLUMS is gearing to be the biggest and the best to date with entries from as far as Turkey, Serbia, Abu Dhabi, Ireland and the United States. Along with film premiers and screenings, the three-day festival (February 11 – 13, 2011) will feature workshops and talks judged by the likes of Adeel Hashmi, Ayesha Khan, Omar Khan, Bilal Lashari, Fasi Zaka, Syed Noor, Adil Sher and many more.

Highlight of the event will be the award night at the third and final day of the festival on February 13, 2011.

Participation Procedure:

“Participants can register through the revolutionary submission system, known as Withoutabox (a division of IMDb), which is used by major festivals around the world. Alternatively, they can also register through our Standard Procedure, where participants are required to fill in a brief Online Registration Form available on the website by 15^th January 2011. Once your film is ready, download the Submission Details Form and submit it to subform@filums.com.pk. Finally, the submission DVD’s of the participants must reach us before 1^st February 2011.”

Categories:

– Short Films

– Animations

– Documentaries

– Feature Length Films

– Any other creative exception

Festival Proceedings:

Refer to the FiLUMS schedule here.

Contacts:

Website: http://www.filums.com.pk

Register for FiLUMS at: http://www.filums.com.pk/register

Email at: info@filums.com.pk

Call for Registrations and Submissions at: +92-347-5189196

Facebook Support Group: http://www.filums.com.pk/facebook

Follow FiLUMS at Twitter: http://twitter.com/filums2011

The Sanjh set (101 cards), now part of my collection, proudly sits on my own desk and keeps reminding me of the University of Gujrat but also tells a story of how artists of Pakistan came forward to share the miseries of fellow countrymen in real need by offering their art work that moved people to buy and contributing to the relief efforts. The inspiring act of Sanjh will go a long way and will be remembered in times to come.

Sanjh team approached Pakistani artists and asked them to contribute their work to help flood 2010 victims. The team then arranged an exhibition that was opened by Ms. Salima Hashmi on September 4, 2010, at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, and continued to run until September 10, 2010. Sanjh was well attended by visitors from all walks of life, many of whom were particularly excited about buying quality artworks at extremely affordable prices.

Thanks to the contributing artists – the real donors and champions of this entire fund raising effort as they take home nothing except for their own goodwill in return of beautiful creations that they have selflessly donated for the cause along with the time, money and effort to execute them. On behalf of all flood victims, if I may, more thanks to Zahraa Assad, Saifullah and Zahra Mirza of RetroArts, Foaad Nizam of Danka, and Visual Artists, Imran, Sajjad and Usman for what they did [Also here and here].