ISLAMABAD: The 2nd Pakistan International Mountains Film Festival concluded on Monday night at Pal(istan National Council of Arts (PNCA) with an award ceremony that declared `Jurek` the best film of the festival.

The two day festival was organised by the PNCA, the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage and Eyebex Films, and featured 28 films with a variety of themes. Of the 28, 16 films were screened on the first day of the festival and 12 were screened on the second.

The festival jury included PNCA Director General Jamal Shah and actor Faisal Rehman, who selected the best films in five categories.

If it holds three consecutive international mountain film festival, Pakistan will become a member of theItaly-based International Alliance for Mountain Films, an organisation of 22 countries that hold mountain film festivals every year.

`Jurek` was the last film to be screened before the conclusion of the festival, and was declared the best. It tells the story of Jerzy Kukuczka, who fell to his death climbing Lhotse on Oct 24, 1989. Rather than discuss the climber`s mysterious death, Pawel Wysoczanski`s film showcased his first trip to the Himalayas with funding and proper equipment and global fame.

`Jurek` told the story of a man climbing to the top, both literally and metaphorically. Kukuczka was a socialist worker turned international celebrity. As a poor climber with homemade equipment, Kukuczka rose to compete with Reinhold Messner in a rivalry to climb the highest Himalayan peaks.

`Tashi and the Monk` won in the Culture and Environment category, while `Valley Uprising` won the Audience Choice Award and `Shah` won BestFilm (Fiction).

The best Pakistani documentary, `Pangolins in Peril` written and directed by Mohammad Ali Ijaz, follows wildlife watchers Naveed and Sikandar as they fight to save the endangered pangolin from being illegally hunted in Kashmir and Pakistan`s Chakwal district.

Speaking at the concluding ceremony, the chairman of the Pakistan International Mountains Film Festival (PIMFF) Wajahat Malik said the PIMFF was postponed twice this year but was held against all odds, amid a lack of sponsors and ongoing security issues.

`Last year, the government of Punjab sponsored us and this festival was held with big fanfare, and we invited 20 foreign delegates from around the world to attend the festival along with more than 100 local delegates that included filmmakers, adventurers, travel writers, photographers and festival directors,` he said. He said they were unable to invite many international delegates due to a lack of funds and sponsorship.