"LPFF is a great way to share their stories"
The first London Pakistani Film Festival (LPFF) will begin on October 1, 2024.
A four-day event, the festival is scheduled to take place at HMS Wellington, Barbican Cinema, Rich Mix Cinema, Garden Cinema and Queen Mary University.
It will be an annual event, celebrating Pakistani films and drama.
Official feature film selections include London Nahi Jaunga, which stars Humayun Saeed and Mehwish Hayat, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s extended director’s cut of Zindagi Tamasha and Yumna Zaidi’s Nayab.
Farrar, starring Sarwat Gilani, and Sajal Aly’s The Pink Shirt are some of the dramas that will be screened at the London Pakistani Film Festival.
Submissions for films and dramas are now open via LPFF’s website and FilmFreeway.
LPFF, a project of Positive Action Through Creativity (PAC) — a UK-registered charity, is the brain-child of Founder Assad Khan and co-founders Mansur Ali and Shoaib Qureshi.
The event is powered by Moringa Entertainment.
The jury includes veteran actor Hameed Sheikh, filmmaker Kamran Jawaid, director Farhan Alam, and filmmakers Raaj Rahhi, Max Shaukat, Kay Ram, Mehnaz Alavi Diwan and Qais Quraishi.
Satish Anand, Humayun Saeed, Nadeem Manadviwalla, Joe Mirza, Hassan Zuberi and E Nina Rothe will serve on the advisory board for the festival.
Through his production company Anthem Films, Mr Jawaid also serves as the festival’s director, while Geo Television Network is the official media partner.
A joint statement by Assad Khan, Mansur Ali and Shoaib Qureshi read:
“The Pakistani community in the UK contributes immensely, both economically and socially.
“LPFF is a great way to share their stories, struggles and celebrations to the people of London and beyond.
“LPFF, therefore, aims to reinvigorate the people’s interest in Pakistani films and dramas, but it is not limited to the South Asian or Middle Eastern diaspora who are intimately aware of the two mediums, its actors — who are celebrated globally — and their unique approach to storytelling.”
On Pakistani cinema, Mr Jawaid added:
“The little industry that could – an impossibly small marketplace that produces fewer movies than it used to since Covid.
“Yet continues to throw one curveball after the other, achieving incredible feats, such as producing a hand-drawn animated film in this day and age, making the world’s first animated film that is entirely rendered in Unreal Engine, achieving unfathomable box-office milestones, or winning international recognition by telling unique and touching stories.
“LPFF is proud to honour a few of these incredible moments of cinema in its first year.”
The launch event and first screening will take place at HMS Wellington on October 1.
Day two will see events hosted at Rich Mix Cinema and Queen Mary University.
Rich Mix Cinema and Garden Cinema will host events on October 3.
The London Pakistani Film Festival closes on October 4 at the Barbican Cinema.
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