News
Friday, January 28, 2011
Documentary on insurgency survivors wins first prize
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: A documentary about the lives of socialists surviving a continuous struggle against Taliban near Malakand Agency won the first prize at the National College of Arts (NCA) thesis-displaying event on Thursday.
The documentary was produced and directed by NCA’s Film and TV school student Ammar Aziz, who risked his own life and went to the place called Hasht Nagar comprising eight villages present in the heart of the insurgency ridden area. Apart from the high risk in making such a movie in these areas, the presence of so many real and larger-than-life characters living in their villages while doing a continuous armed struggle against the local feudals and extremists spell bounded the audience.
The movie is a story of a real character, a female soldier, living in the same area, who runs a small makeshift theatre in these villages and wanders around among thousands of dwellers while showing them a play about the armed struggle of these brave citizens who have faced at least 300 casualties so far in this armed struggle.
The movie, titled ‘Theatre crow’, not only highlights the significance of their struggle against so many external forces struggling to change their decades old lifestyle and culture in the area but also teaches the viewers the message of people like Karl Marx and Lennon and why they and thousands of their other comrades sacrificed their lives in the struggle against imperialist forces.
The villagers had to initially fight against the feudals during the 60s and 70s to take their land back. All of them own an equal area of land now. Though not sufficient, but they live a very contented life, preparing their children to continue the fight their parents started. The whole idea of the presence of socialism in its true essence in a remote place in Pakistan, when it was considered obsolete by the capitalist forces across the globe, makes the documentary a must watch for everyone.
Ammar has learnt the art of direction and film making not only from his school in NCA but he was also chosen by the Canadian and US-based directors and producers to work as an assistant director and a creative person in their short films and documentaries.
Ammar Aziz told Daily Times that it was a once in a lifetime experience for him and he risked his life by travelling to and from the terrorism-ridden Tribal Areas. He said that Afzal Bangash of Mazdoor Kissan Party spearheaded the Hasht Nagar movement in 70s and he witnessed a great courage and motivation among the dwellers of the area, who were all ready to fight until death for their rights and the rights of others.
He said that this small locality was a true picture of tribal culture and values, where feudalism and patriarchy existed. The residents were freely living their lives, some as peasants while others are free to get education, become a poet or an artist, a singer or anything they would like to be.
He said that he had titled his documentary as Hasht nagar - a song of another world - taking the extract from Rahman Baba’s famous Pashto poem. The documentaries titled ‘Maan Boli’ and ‘Heer Ranjha’ by Ravail Warraich and Alina Ali came in second and third, respectively.
Story of ‘Maan Boli’ is about the way our bureaucracy and establishment tried to abolish the Punjabi language in the name of religion, language and classes. The documentary also pointed out the beauty of this ancient language and contributions of the great Punjabi Sufis, like Baba Bulleh Shah, Warish Shah, Shah Hussain, Baba Farid and many others.
Alina’s documentary highlighted the struggle of women in the conservative society in reference to the tragedy of Heer Ranjha and how Heer was persecuted some 200 years ago by the clerics of that time and how a woman is still struggling to have her say and independence in the conservative society of today.
NCA has started theses display of their nine departments from Thursday. The exhibits include pieces of fine arts, architecture, musicology and others.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk