During the weekend of January 13^th and 14^th, a film festival for peace in South Asia was held across 5 cities in India and Pakistan.

Organized in Lahore and Hyderabad in Pakistan and in Lucknow, Rohtak and Bangalore in India, the event was a mixed success. The groups showed a number of films each choosing from among two films by Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian (Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan and India, and Under the Nuclear Shadow), a film on the peace march organized in 2005 (Just One Peace March), and other commercial films on this subject.

 
On January 13^th, when Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers were meeting in Islamabad to discuss peace, a film festival on peace was organized in Lahore and Hyderabad.

 
In Lahore, the films were followed by a discussion which continued for almost 2 hours. Over 50 people gathered at the venue with a majority of the participants being students from Government college, Punjab University, LUMS and Lahore Grammar school. There were 5 professors from Punjab University and Government College who moderated the discussions sessions.

 
In Hyderabad, the group was forced to change venues when an initial plan to organize a moderated teleconference between the venues fell through owing to unpreparedness. This affected the organization in Hyderabad and the turnout.

 
In Rohtak, the festival was held on 14^th January with an audience of about 50 people – social activists, a couple of advocates, lecturers from the university, teachers and students. The event was organized under the auspices of Democratic Forum, Rohtak, a social organization that is involved mainly in creating awareness by way of holding meetings once a month and discussing issues of larger socio-cultural-political concern with national and international ramifications. The group shared notes from the events organized in Lahore the previous day. The screening that lasted roughly an hour and 45 minutes was followed by discussions that continued for around the same period of time.

 
These group discussions suggested that the Peace March film which currently only documented the India portion of the march should be reproduced and portions of peace March in this side of the border should also be added. In addition, the groups felt that the film could be longer to include portions of the march including the reception in Jandiala by the local community, the release of the peace CD in Amritsar, etc. Suggestions also said that more peace marches should be organized and that young people should lead the peace march. The Hyderabad group renewed their willingness to take the lead in organizing a peace march from Hyderabad in Sindh to Jaipur /Ajmer in Rajasthan.

 
The groups also felt such films break the "mould" – they help to break the general impression about our neighbors – that there are no liberal voices there, etc. These films should, therefore, be widely screened, especially amidst the youth. This would help remove prejudices, and create and increase awareness, especially on the nuclear issue. There was a feeling that the films would be more effective in communication on a wider scale if they can be dubbed in the language of the masses – or captions given in Hindi or Urdu.

These discussions also pointed out that the campaign to relax Visa policy must be launched in all major cities of India and Pakistan. Key organizers of this peace March from India and Pakistan must hold talks jointly with civil society organizations and administrators of educational institutions to get their endorsement for Visa campaign in India and Pakistan. More people-to-people projects and meetings between Indians and Pakistanis are necessary. Youth from India and Pakistan must meet frequently during summer and winter vacations. Theater Artists from India and Pakistan should work on a coproductions focusing on peace. Later that group must perform in India and Pakistan.

Peace activist from both countries should visit educational institutions.
 
During these discussions a proposal was presented in Hyderabad to continue the screening of such films in future. Specifically, in May 2007, the group plans to hold a film festival to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first war of independence of 1857 with a teleconference being part of the event. The Lahore group also suggested that this film festival should be organized  at great level, at a venue where at least 500 people can sit and at least 50 films from all over south Asia must be screened. 

Saeeda Diep from Lahore, Prof Ramneek Mohan from Rohtak and Aslam Khwaja from Hyderabad contrinuted to this note
Related Links
Movies and Indo-Pak Peace
Film Festival 2007
Pakistanis, Indians in Joint Fast at Lahore
Indian Activists, Social Thinkers Beamed into Pakistan