‘Dhaai Peher’, a film by the students of AJK Mass Communication Research Centre of Jamia Millia Islamia has bagged the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ at the L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival (LIAFF) in the student category.
The film sheds light on a set of events that occurred in Punjab in the 1990s.
‘Dhaai Peher’ (Two and a Half Moments), was part of the departmental project, in which students had to produce an original short film or a documentary and was made under the supervision of the AJK Centre for Mass Communication and Journalism. It is directed by M.A. Mass Communication students Amal Devasiya, Danish Qazi, Jamshad Ali, Kashif Shakeel and Pankaj Rawat.
Speaking to The Cognate, Qazi Danish, one of the directors told, “The film is an adaption of one of the chapters from the book ‘The Night of Broken Glass’ by Kashmiri writer Feroz Rather, which is a collection of anecdotes of state brutalities and oppression in Kashmir”.
“We took the idea from the book and assembled it into the situation of the events that took place in Punjab in the 1990s. We prepared the script and submitted it for approval to the teachers, as it is the process before you start working on its production. We got the approval but COVID-19 happened.”
The film was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, as there was time and resource constraint, so it was shot in and around the Jamia campus.
Kashif Shakeel, another director, said, “The campus was empty and there was no access to outdoor locations, we made the set of Punjab in the deserted areas of the campus and then the whole film was shot”.
“It was a huge task for us to replicate the topography of Punjab in the campus of Jamia but we somehow managed to transform some old buildings into the location with the cooperation of the faculty and it all happened with the limited resources.”
The 23 minutes and 18 seconds film is not available online to watch now, as it is travelling across different film festivals.
The LIAFF is a West Bengal based creative hub, platform and showcase for independent filmmakers from around the globe, who possess the passion to tell stories and quench their quest to realize their vision effectively on limited resources and budget.
It also encourages cross-culture innovations through visuals and films that serve people and audience with entertainment, education and information.
