LAHORE: The Travelling Film South Asia Festival began on Friday at Olomopolo, showcasing the finest South Asian documentaries and fihns. Celebrating its 25th year, the TFSA Festival promises an exciting weekend in Lahore, with a special day-long event scheduled for Sept 26 at The Learning Hub College in Gujranwala.

This year`s festival, curated by Farjad Nabi and Olomopolo Media, is attended by Kanak Dixit, a founding member of Film South Asia, and Pawas Manadhar, the programme manager visiting from Kathmandu, Nepal.

Audiences can expect a diverse array of award-winning films from across South Asia. Friday`s highlights featured Pakistani gems `The Stained Dawn` by Anam Abbas and `Barzakh` by Moiz Tirmizi, along with India`s `Sita Ke Badalte Roop` and Nepal`s `Before You Were MyMother.`The recurrent theme at the festival was women`s stories which was evident in all the films as well as the very interesting panel discussion that took place at the end of the day titled `Film As A Medium For Gender Activism.` The panelists are rights activists Nighat Said Khan and Leena Ghani and prolific filmmaker Kanwal Khoosat. The discussion was led by young filmmaker and activist Sana Jafri.

The festival venue buzzed with artists, film and culture enthusiasts, as well as students of journalism, mass media, film, and literature. The thought-provoking content of the selected films and engaging conversations moved the audience. A variety of delicious homemade items were available at food stalls.

The festival is open to the public and free of charge, promising an exciting lineup in the days ahead.

THAAP: In connection with its 12th international conference, Thaap has announced an interna-tional documentary competition on the Harappan civilisation and culture to provide filmmakers and storytellers with a platform to delve into the topic.

The entries are invited from students and professionals.In the student`s category, the participants will submit productions of approximately five to 10 minutes duration, whereas in the professional category, 5 to 15 minutes productions are required for the submission. The language may be Urdu and Punjabi (with English subtitles) or English. The deadline for submission is Nov 10. A hardcopy and softcopy both forms are necessary for submission.

Prof Pervaiz Vandal, the managing director Thaap, stated that the topics for the documentaries could be both the tangible cultural elements and intangible cultural elements of the Harappan civilization. Filmmakers could explore the ancient monuments, absence of any large temple or palace, residential patterns and house details,crafts in medium of clay like pottery, sculpture, seals, small scale elements, toys and models, trade and trading facilities, boat making and maintenance etc in their productions, he added.

`Similarly, intangible cultural elements such as system of belief, religion, peace and absence of violence, conflict resolution system, governance, mutual trust among trading communities, childcare and other elements of society could be the topic of the productions.

Mr Vandal shared that selective documentaries would be screened at the annual Thaap conference and prize distribution ceremony would also be held on the concluding day.

Evaluation of all the submissions will be done by a committee chaired by Thaap Chief Executive Officer Prof Sajida Vandal and other experts. The winners will get prize money Rs100,000 in each category and runners-up will get Rs50,000 in both categories.