Kashmiri filmmakers’ short film screened at film festival in London

Srinagar, July 17: "Brick" a short experimental film made by a group of amateur Kashmiri filmmakers has been selected for the Lift-Off Global Film Festival to be held at Pinewood Studios, England.

The film has been selected to compete in the first-time filmmaker section of the festival titled "First-Time Filmmaker Lift-Off Sessions 2024."

Made by a group of friends Mudabbir Ahmad Tak, Shabir Ahmad Dar, Maroof Hussain, Tawhid Dar and Adil Mohiuddin Khanday, the film is an avant-garde work of existential contemplation about the meaning of life. The filmmakers use a brick as a metaphor for human life, and by documenting the journey of a brick from its birth as clay to its destination as a building block among many thousands of its kind, the film ponders over the cycle of life.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered at the famous Pinewood Film Studio in England, the Lift-Off Network promotes independent filmmaking through different initiatives, including organising film festivals. Each festival screens a diverse range of projects and talents during a month-long event comprising online screenings and in-person networking sessions.

The films competing at the festivals go through two judging rounds before festival winners are awarded. In the first round-the Crowd Round - the judges and the general audience review the films and vote for the four projects they wish to see progress to the second round -The Network Round. After the festival closes, audience votes are combined with the judge's scores and the top-rated films in each programme progress to the Network Round.

The filmmakers are pass-outs of the Media Education Research Centre, University of Kashmir. They expressed hope that more filmmakers from Kashmir would get a chance to showcase their work around the world. “There are so many stories to tell in Kashmir. And there are so many good storytellers here in Kashmir. I hope this is just the start of our filmmaking journey, and that we are able to make even better films that we can get to show around the world, as well as to the Kashmiri audiences,” said Mudabbir Ahmad Tak, the director of the film.

The filmmakers also expressed their gratitude to the organisers of the festival for giving their work a chance to compete at such a prestigious film festival.