For film enthusiast in Pakistan, the InternationalFilm Festival in September this year would bean event worth cheers and celebrations. The event promises the showing of a whole range of films, documentaries, short films and feature films to attractthemass of fanatic fans of arts and liberal arts. Before moving here in 2012, Rafi-Peer Theatre Workshop (RPTW), the iconic name in holding festivals in
the field of Dance, Drama, Music and Puppetry, had to its credit successfully hosting 37 international festivals since 1992. The RPTW is a non-profit organization actively promoting culture and arts both at home and abroad for over thirty five years. Since 2002 the festivals have been merged to form the โWorld Performing Arts Festivalsโ where all the different genres have been presented. Whilst over a thousand international performers have graced these occasions and enlightened the people with their artistic performances, it is Pakistani artistes that have received the greatest platforms to express themselves to the accolades of both the audience and the critics. Performing to packed halls and auditoriums they enthrall locals and visitors alike. Cinema is another great medium of communication with the masses; most of the Peer Films productions have won awards at festivals in Toronto and Berlin. Rafi Peer Theatre Workshopโs aim is to promote the arts and culture at the grassroots level in all five provinces. Lately plans are being made to reach to the FATA agencies as well. Initiatives in this regard are television documentaries, puppet shows, theatre plays and music concerts. Festival such as the Sufi Music Festival and the World Performing Arts Festival help showcase our own culture to locals and foreign visitors alike. The audience is also exposed to performances from other cultures and regions. These events promote culture at all levels that enlighten our society both in urban and rural areas. The World Performing Arts Festival pioneered by RPTW is now an internationally famed event. With its advent and the confidence it inspires, Pakistan has emerged on the cultural map of the world as a unique entity despite the difficult domestic situation after 9/11. In the festivals organized by RPTW most of the films which are screened are the alternative films and not the budgeted blockbusters. These films show the diversity of form and content and expose the talent and the interest inherent and implicit. Since these films are not made for the box office, the range is not constricted by what the audiences want. The International Film Festival will help recognize the growing independent cinema in Pakistan, which has produced movies on numerous thought-provoking ideas and received acclaim and appreciation. With Lahore, the cultural heart of the country and cradle of its film industry, would be hosting the Festival, the endeavor is also aimed at revival of the film industry though in a new fashion to meet the growing needs of independent and vibrant media. After screening of the films at the festival, arrangements are in place to take the festival to 10 best educational institutions in all the five provinces of the country to impress upon the new talent by introducing them to the best form of learning. This will also help to induce them to one of the best form of expression which had been a very rich and varied cultural heritage in which performing arts were very much part of life. Download Entry Form
www.peergroup.com.pk/entryform.pdf
