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

Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA), TiE Lahore and Sofizaz in colboration with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) are organizing an interactive talk with Imran Sayeed who is an entrepreneur and technologist from the US. The event is supposed to be held at NIB Auditorium in LUMS and is a good learning and networking opportunity for entrepreneurs and people who are interested in entrepreneurship.

The event is free but everyone must register to attend. The details are as follows;

Event: Interactive Talk with Imran Sayeed
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Date: July 29, 2010
Venue: NIB Auditorium, LUMS
Register for Free at: http://bit.ly/a4Tn2t

Imran Sayeed’s Profile.

Imran Sayeed, a serial entrepreneur, a consultant, an engineer, a mentor, a rainmaker, and a great supporter of many initiatives in Pakistan including the OPEN-MITEF initiative is going to be in Lahore on July 29.

Imran is Senior Vice President, Global Architecture, Application Development and Management Practice and leads all commercial sector industry practices for Keane, a global BPO and IT Services company with ~14,000 professionals worldwide. Industry practices include Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Pharmaceutial, Manufacturing, Retail, Hospitality & Travel and Energy, and together comprise most of the key business lines and customers for Keane.

To read more about Imran Sayeed and the event visit Jeahan Ara’s blog post Interactive talk with Imran Sayeed.

Don’t forget to read the last line on Jehan’s post to know what will be served after the event. ;)

As reported here in a previous post, a LUMS student was killed in a road accident when the car he was traveling in was smashed by a Cruiser being driven by drunk men a few days back. Two of the accused were arrested with their vehicle while the third person fled the scene.

Efforts of late Waheeb Alam’s supporters are bearing fruit as the fugitive and the third culprit has recently been arrested while two men in earlier custody have been sent to Central Jail under police remand with no preferential treatment awarded.

Students of LUMS, in a remarkable display of unity, strength and solidarity with friends and family of the deceived soul, had staged a peaceful demonstration against police inaction and meddling of the evidence on scene at Club Chowk and Masjid Chowk, DHA. This led to intervention from higher political and police authorities with assurances to the students that their case will be proceeded in a fair and transparent manner.

LUMS Vice Chancellor, Faculty, Administration and fellow students have been instrumental in achieving whatever success we have been able to observe so far. Though any good news cannot bring Waheeb back to his family, we pray that the perpetrators be brought to justice without any compromise or conditions.

Early morning on April 20, at about 4:00 am, a group of three drunk men, driving in ecstasy through empty lanes of DHA Lahore, lost control of their Land Cruiser and crashed into a car on the other side of the road after knocking down a lamp-post and tumbling over the road divider. The incident happened at Club Chowk near H-Block Market and resulted in the sad demise of Waheeb Alam, an undergraduate student of 2010 batch at LUMS (Innalillah-e-wa-inna-ilaihe-rajioon). Waheeb and his two friends had been out driving their Cuore to have an early morning breakfast when a speeding four-wheeler in good speed slammed into their unfortunate vehicle.

Police controlling the protest

Waheeb sccumbled to injuries, dying on the spot, while both of his friends were injured of whom one was in a serious condition. One of the accomplices driving the Cruiser fled the scene while the other two were held and later arrested by the Police. Considering the fact that the perpetrators had a very influential background, immediate steps in collection of evidence and registration of an initial FIR were delayed unnecessarily by the Police authorities. This led to a protest demonstration by hundreds of LUMS students who blocked the one-way road at Club Chowk to demand immediate filing of the FIR and securing original evidence without tempering.

Students praying for the deceased soul

Students were later joined by the LUMS Vice Chancellor, Mr. Ahmad Jan Durrani, Dean Suleman Dawood School of Business, Mr. Shaukat Brah and several other university faculty members. Negotiations with the authorities continued for about six hours during which students ignored continued requests by the Police officials to end the sit-in and move back to university campus until their demands were fulfilled.

A few important demand points included:

– An assurance by the Police that evidence should not be tempered or distorted

– Official blood sample reports of the accused be produced and shared with the students as soon as possible

– The third accomplice should be arrested within 24 hours of the incident

As the wait for blood sample reports prolonged, officials informed the protestors that the reports will be produced within two weeks time. Infuriated, the group of students peacefully moved from Club Chowk to the main Masjid Chowk blocking one-way lane in front of the masjid.

Sit-in continues at the Masjid Chowk, DHA

Later intervention of the higher authorities and visit of the PML (N) MNA from the constituency Khawaja Saad Rafiq paved way for the peaceful dispersing of the protesting crowd. The assurances made by Mr. Rafiq included a resolve to bring justice to the family of the deceased soul as soon as possible in the form of arrest of the third man, delivery of blood sample reports within an hour (at 5:00 pm) and transparency and urgency in the whole process.

PML (N) MNA, Khawaja Saad Rafiq at the spot

Overall, students of this institution made sure to stand by Waheeb’s family in their hour of grief as they peacefully campaigned and protested to get the responsible party duly charged and arrested.

We pray for our fellow Waheeb Alam’s deceased soul (May Allah grant him peace and salvation), his family and for the speedy recovery of his injured friends. Please join us in condemning use of influence and power by those who cause innocent deaths and then easily escape from the grips of law.

Wasted Vigil is Nadeem Aslam’s third and most powerful novel yet. It follows the lives of five damaged souls dealing with the repercussions of the “War on Terror” in later day Afghanistan. A work of deepest humanity, “The Wasted Vigil” offers a timely portrait of this region, of love during war and conflict. At once angry, unflinching and memorably beautiful, it marks Nadeem Aslam as a world writer of major importance.

Nadeem shall be reading from ‘The Wasted Vigil’ and answering your questions at the Sayeed Saigol Auditorium on 10th April between 5-7pm.
This event is being arranged by The Last Word in collaboration with the LUMS Literary Society.

A group of amateur photographers with a passion for their homeland have set out to project an image of Pakistan that is totally opposite to the one most popular with international media. Pakistan, today, is in headline news for all the wrong reasons and the world has forgotten that this land still has culture, colors, music, festivals, hopes and aspirations to a brighter future built on a rich past.

Members of the Pakistani Photographers Group at Flickr have arranged a collection display of about forty photographs related to “The Other Pakistan” theme. Submitted by amateur members of the group, these amazing captures range from portraits, landscapes, and architecture to everyday life spanning over entire Pakistan including Lahore, the Northern Areas, Cholistan, Skardu and Uch Sharif.

After its first successful day (Feb.18), the exhibition will contiue on February 19 at the Students’ Lounge, Lahore University of Management Sciences. The exhibition, sponsored and supported by Bank Alfalah, is to later visit smaller cities of Pakistan as well.

Note: Pictures in this post are shared with permission from Mr. Yasir Nasir, photographer and organizer of  the exhibition at LUMS and are property of their respective photographers.

Ever-changing scenario of the global economy and evolving needs of our own country require development of a new breed of enterprising managers, marketers, entrepreneurs and global business leaders. In order to provide an opportunity for business graduates of Pakistan to exercise their expertise on innovative solutions to business problems, students at the Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) present Synergies ’09.

Now into its second year, the annual Synergies event held under the auspices of the Global Management Club at SDSB LUMS, strives to provide an exponential platform, monetary rewards, wide exposure and opportunities for those who dare to accept real challenges of the corporate world.

Synergies ’09 is a three day event to be held from the 3rd – 5th of April at LUMS. With focus on “Collaborative Excellence” in information technology, energy, agribusinesses and other sectors, the event comprises of the following four main events:

• Kaavish – Business Plan Competition
• Hippocrates – Business Case Competition
• Éclat – Request for Proposal (RFP) Presentation
• BootStrap – Business Simulation Game

Deadline for Kaavish registrations has been extended to February 20, 2009

This year, in addition to a sizable corporate presence, prospective participants from over 60 universities and business schools in Pakistan are expected to attend and take part in different activities.

Further details and information regarding pre-requisites, requirements, conditions, how to apply and most importantly, the deadlines, can be found out at the event’s website: http://synergies.com.pk/

So, if you think you have what it takes to become a global business leader, go ahead, spread the word, sign up and register yourself as soon as possible…

The power of entrepreneurship, the spirit of free enterprise and taking that first step towards self-achievement; all define the scope of Startup Insiders, an joint initiative by P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association) and VahZay Ltd that has benefited many and propelled positive vibes about IT entrepreneurship in this country.

This time, Startup Insiders will be hosting a session with Mr. Carlos Cashman covering the following major topics:

1. Raising Funds
2. Surviving in a tough environment and
3. B2B Sales

Mr. Cashman is a guru at starting and funding ventures and has been a card counter in his MIT days (Remember “21”??). Details of the event are as follows:

Date: February 13, 2009

Time: 3:00 PM

Venue: A13 – PICIC Auditorium, LUMS

More information on the event and Mr. Cashman’s profile can be read at Jehan Ara’s blog.

In audience will be,

Imran Zia, CEO, VahZay Ltd (Chairman P@SHA)
Zafar Khan, Founder, Sofizar
Dr. Umar Saif, Founder, Bumpin
Fahd Bangash, CEO, Amaana
Monis Rahman, CEO, Naseeb Networks
Jehan Ara, President, P@SHA

Registration is FREE but essential. All are welcome. Please register by emailing at president@pasha.org.pk.

So, see you there!

One sleepy Sunday afternoon in late November (23rd to be more precise) gathered all post dot com breed of citizen journalists (lately to be labelled as Bloggers) to discuss what is so special about what they do.

Audience at the Lahore Bloggers Meet-up

Google Pakistan and CIO Magazine hosted a meet-up of Lahori Bloggers and wanna-bees to discuss everything related to the phenomenon of ‘Blogging’ in Pakistan. LUMS proved to be an excellent venue (Internet connection apart) for the event providing all of us with the space and opportunity to interact, network and personally meet people that we usually know only through their blogs. Suprisingly, more than a hundred people turned up without any formal invitation still the response and the attendence was impressive.

Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google Pakistan

The three-hour session started at 3:00 pm with Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant for Google in Pakistan as well as the main host of the afternoon, talked about Blog basics and provided a beginner’s guide to effective and profitable ways to share your mind through Blogosphere.

Saad Hamid (Sizlopedia) sharing his success story

It was followed by Saad Hamid (Sizlopedia) and Maryam Nasim (Pinkwool) taking the stage sharing their personal success stories in this field. Maryam, although does not calls herself a blogger, provided an excellent insight into the wonders networking through Internet can bring in terms of work-from-home kind of profitable business models. A dedicated housewife, she designs electronic greeting cards and free printable graphics to sell through her website while earning very lucrative returns in the process. The person that we really missed was Haris Nadeem (Sizzledcore), a very young and dedicated tech. blogger who actually couldn’t attend because of his exams.

The Professionals

Students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences have initiated a funds-collection drive for victims of earthquake in Balochistan. So far, some goods including blankets have been purchased and are being despatched to the affected areas through reliable channels.

Further contributions can be made to the fund by:

1. Contacting members of LUMS Student Council at any one of these numbers:

0333-4421930
0300-9135798
0300-2102098
0333-4497950
0333-5327102
0344-4078116

2. Depositing amounts to LUMS designated banks using the regular deposit slips and clearly stating the purpose as “Donation for Earthquake Victims”. The cheques, DD’s and pay orders issued in the name of “Lahore University of Management Sciences” will also be accepted. 

3. Online donations can be made through the following URL: http://pay.lums.edu.pk/default.asp

Please help and donate to any of your local or national charities, organizations or individuals who are actively involved in the relief efforts. Thanks!