The seventh International Women’s Film Festival, which screened films from countries including Argentina, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Turkey, England and the United States, concluded in Islamabad on Sunday.
The two day festival featured 18 short films, including two Pakistani filmmakers, director Mehreen Jabbar’s
“Baira Gharakh” and Halimah Tariq’s “Awaaz.”
Unfortunately, the censorship board blocked Pakistan’s third short film, My Mother’s Daughter, directed by Ahmen Khawaja and Mariam Khan, from being screened at the festival because its plot revolvs around the controversial topic of child marriage and the story of a Christian girl’s forced conversion.
Madiha Raza, founder of the 7th International Women’s Film Festival, has expressed disappointment over the censorship board’s ban on screening of Pakistani film My Mother’s Daughter, saying it was “unfortunate” that the ceremony was being protected by screening various films – Pakistan Wanted Voice, which is related to the film festival. Raza complained that films from other countries were being screened at the festival but her own films were not.
Prashant Thaker, the writer of the American film “The Woman Under the Tree”, expressed hope that more Pakistani women would get a chance to showcase the country’s true selling point. The festival aims to promote the status of women filmmakers and will continue screening short films in Karachi and Lahore on March 16 and 18.
