The second year of Filmmaking for Social Change workshops is drawing to a close here in Karachi. Patrick and I returned to Pakistan after a gap of 5 weeks while the student shot their films. We were pleased to see that each of the 11 groups had managed to stick to their initial story ideas and had produced some incredible footage. Excitement and pride on both sides, soon turned into deep concentration and late nights as they threw themselves into the last stages of the process.

As foreigners, our experience of Karachi is far removed from reality. We move from air conditioned hotel lobby.. to air-conditioned car.. to another hotel.. or (if we’re lucky!) a rooftop barbecue restaurant. Our view of the city is either elevated above the chaos or moves quickly from behind blacked-out windows. My attempt to visit a local market with some of the girls was advised against. The next day an explosion happened in another nearby bazaar. It’s incredibly frustrating but unfortunately the most sensible way to live.

So for the time being, the reality of life in Pakistan is presented to us through these 30 students. From their films we’ve discovered a rich variety of stories which go a long way to explaining the problems facing this turbulent country. Some dramatic and political, others more subtle or poetic – all are far removed from the average coverage of Pakistan in UK media.

With the overarching theme of ‘the effects of terrorism’ it’s not surprising that all the films are extremely relevant, some more so than we could have predicted, as one pair of filmmakers found out to everyone’s concern. Filmming a protest march against a previous bomb attack, their found themselves caught up in another attack, and were separated for rest of the day. With phone signals jammed their had no idea if the other was OK, or any way to let their families know. Other films are more subtle and hint at underlying threats and chaos in a more reflective way, such as a beautiful essay on the life of a street kid who survives by collecting rubbish, or a school where all faiths exist in harmony.

When we leave tomorrow morning we will take all 11 films back home ready for their world premieres on May 1st at the British Museum as part of LIDF2010. The films will be shown as part of a day-long event focusing on Filmmaking for Social Change, and 5 lucky students from this workshop will also be there to discuss their experiences and meet other young filmmakers from London.