In a bid to showcase young talent and indie filmmakers, the Nueplex Film Festival opened on Friday at the Nueplex cinemas in Karachi.
The three-day film festival is showcasing 18 films of upcoming filmmakers, which according to the organisers, hopes to “create cinematic magic despite limited experience and resources”.
On the first day of the festival, nine films — Discarded, Circus, Cardiac Arrest, Barzakh, Shikray Ka Gudda, Reverie, Ticket to Paradise, Haibat and Sentinal Jet — were showcased. With the other nine films set to be showcased today.
Sharmeen Ali, the director of Reverie — a surreal contemporary film that deals with grief — views the festival as a great opportunity to meet talented filmmakers and directors of her age.
“I’m happy that I can be a part of it [festival]. That they considered our film as a really good one and for it to be nominated and shortlisted in this is an honour, it’s a first, and it’s an amazing experience, so far,” Sharmeen told Geo.tv when asked about her expectations from the festival.
On the opportunity to get her film adjudicated by industry leaders such as writer Bee Gul, actor Humayun Saeed, director Siraj ul Haq, writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah and director Nadeem Baig, Sharmeen said that it was an honour to know that “such icons” would be watching her film.
Talking about the movies showcased on the first day, director Siraj ul Haq noted that a wide genre of films were shown to them. However, for him, the biggest highlight of the day was seeing science fiction, or sci-fi, films by Pakistani directors.
