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Filmmaking for Social Change kicks off in Karachi

The second Filmmaking for Social Change Workshop, lead by Patrick Hazard of LIDF and supported by the BHC in Pakistan kicked off today with 30 new recruits from Karachi and Lahore, excited and full of ideas.

Induction day for the workshop participants

The students spent two induction days at a beautiful farm on the outskirts of Karachi, getting to know each other, discussing ideas and of course relaxing before the hard work begins.

After this intense week-long workshop, covering the history and theory of documentary film as well technical and aesthetic considerations, the students have a month to shoot 10 documentary films in groups of 3. We will return in March for editing and post production. The films will be shown at LIDF 2010 at the British Museum as part of our Pakistan focus day and 5 lucky students will have the chance to travel to London to present and discuss their films.

Watch this space for more news and blogs as the workshop progresses.

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Videocracy – The Barbican: Discussion Panel with Erik Gandini

This evening, with Panel discussion hosted by Index on Censorship, was certainly an extremely intriguing one, full of belly laughs mixed with uncomfortable silences and an exciting debate to follow. Italian-born and Swedish-bred director Erik Gandini’s potent film ‘Videocracy’ began as a beginner’s guide to Berlusconi and Italian TV – and why the two are almost synonymous. Through interviews with a charmingly talentless TV wannabe Ricky (and his doting madre), the successful yet apparently completely soulless tv agent Lele Mora, possible future Berlusconi, Fabrizio Corona, and even a Presidential neighbour from Costa Smerelda who has turned herself into a party photographer on the basis of his invitation, Gardini paints a very vivid portrait of the tasteless commercialism of Italian tv that seems to mirror the personality of Silvio Berlusconi; “The television of the President”. Read the rest of this entry »

Lucia – the Barbican: Don Boyd Retrospective

The Don Boyd retrospective that forms part of this year’s festival kicked off tonight with1998’s Lucia. This was preceded with a talk from Patrick Hazard on the importance of Don Boyd’s work, before Boyd himself took the microphone. He explained the reasons for his focussing this dramatic piece on Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor. It began when Boyd was a young boy, with a passion for the original historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott, whom was regarded as a bit of a celebrity, and was a character of particular interest to Boyd. The opera gave him a wonderful opportunity he said: it is “drenching with beautiful music”, which, with the chance to play with beautiful costumes and scenery, is an “irresistible opportunity” for the filmmaker. Read the rest of this entry »

The Invisible City: extended report and interview with John Rogers

Photography by Andrej Vasilenko

Nick Papadimitriou goes for long walks, often for days at a time, in an ambitious effort to “hold my region in my mind.” He is comforted by what he sees as the rejected buildings and spaces of London, the “overlooked” places, that lack the care and attention he himself felt he had found wanting in his own early life. Filmmaker John Rogers’ portrait piece ‘The London Perambulator’, about the self-styled Deep Topographer and his loving study of  liminal spaces, started ‘The Invisible City‘ day at The Hub in Kings Cross Read the rest of this entry »

Isolation: The Barbican

The 64-minute Isolation is a mixture of telling clips and camera shots as Directors Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore follow ex-soldier Stuart Griffiths around the country interviewing fellow ex-servicemen about their experiences since leaving the army, mostly after injury. Shot in extreme clarity and focus, uncomfortable notes rising as a disconcerting, disconnected voice matter-of-factly lists the detritus of modern life, following with the disturbing fact that ‘it’s easy to disappear among them’. We creep slowly into the subject matter; ex-soldier Stuart Griffiths travels seemingly through the night and into day, interviewing homeless and dispossessed ex-soldiers. Read the rest of this entry »

Patrick Hazard's Karachi Diary: Day 2

LIDF Director Patrick Hazard is currently in Pakistan working with film students who are making documentaries about their own country as part of our new initiative Pakistani Filmmakers for Social Change. He records the experience here in the second part of his diary.

karachi-workshop-1

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Patrick Hazard’s Karachi Diary: Day 1

karach-workshop-3

There was an earthquake here today. The epicentre was just off the coast, under the Arabian Sea. Apparently, there was panic in certain parts of the city.

‘Here’, is Karachi, Pakistan. Peter Fraser and myself have returned to conclude Stage 1 of a documentary film project begun last year with the support of the British High Commission, Pakistan.

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