ISLAMABAD: A festival featuring 60-second films was held on Saturday at the Sir Syed Memorial Society in Islamabad.

The festival aims to provide amateur filmmakers around the world a platform on which to present their ideas and their perspectivesonsocialissues.Thefestival included sessions on photography and filmmaking, to explain what goes on behind the lens.

Festival director Abrarul Hassan told Dawn the festival began four years ago, and the youth`s interest in the festival has increased with each passing year.

`This year we received over 500 films for the festival. The subjects on which movies were received were Water, Education, Environment, Fiction, Abstract, Comedy, Creative and Drama,` he said. He said Islamabad is the first city where the movies havebeen screened.

`Out of 500 movies, the three best movies were selected for awards, on the basis of concept, content and execution.

He said a film titled `Vision`, from the Drama category, was declared the best.

The film was submitted by Farzad Samimi and Ahmad Vahid Omidi from Afghanistan. He said the film contained a moral; that a change in perspective could change one`s approach to life.

`The movie that was ranked second best, titled `Shaitan` from the Drama category, was received from India, by Sourabh Bali,` Mr Hassan said. He said the film is about a woman who finds herself in an evil situation, but manages to survive with courage.

`The movie which bagged third position was titled `Toofani Kiddo`, from the Creative category, and was prepared by Ramaisa Shahid from Pakistan.

The film featured flip animation of nearly 700 illustrations of a child who doesn`t want to eat the food prepared byhis mother and instead, leaps into his imagination. Winning filmmakers received prizes, including a Macbook, a DSLR camera and an iPad for the first, second and third best submissions respectively.

The jury panellists included Afia Salam, Tauseeg Haider, Teresa Rehman, Yousuf Bashir Qureshi, Nina Gilden Seavy and Sohail Javed.

Mr Hassan said that the movies will also be screened in Swat, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Quetta and Faisalabad.

Haider Ikram Birja, a student, who acted in the film `Broken Mirror`, said that movies show that sometimes we don`t get what we want. `Broken Mirror` was directed by Adeel Bhatti and Daniyal Abid was the director of photography.

Fahad Sheikh, who attended the festival, said the event was a good experience. `I have decided to make a movie and I will [submit my movie to] the festival next year,` he said.