Pakistan Calling! News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

A Film made by Cass Film and Broadcast Production students have been included in the latest PAKISTAN CALLING campaign which launches today.

Date: 2 May 2014

A Film made by Cass Film and Broadcast Production students have been included in the latest PAKISTAN CALLING campaign which launches today.

The RSA launched Pakistan Calling in April 2013, working with The Samosa to support Pakistani civil society organisations working to tackle the country’s many pressing social problems and build community trust in UK.

This year the Cass We Make Film team have produced Kashmir: Peace Making Across the Line of Control in which Anwar Akhtar interviews people on both sides of the divide. With India and Pakistan in constant conflict over the region of Kashmir, Muhammad Arif Urfi, a renowned reporter from the Pakistan side of Kashmir, and Mohammad Irfan Dar, co-founder of Red Stone Films, share their thoughts on possibilities for a peaceful communal coexistence, as well as the role that British Indian and Pakistani communities could play in supporting such a peace process. They also draw upon personal experiences in filming within conflict zones and the impact it has upon their desire for a peaceful future

Pakistan Calling is a project aiming to increase awareness and support for Pakistani civil society organisations and activists, working to tackle the country’s many pressing social problems. The aim is to promote cross-cultural dialogue and community trust in the UK by profiling the many different faces of Pakistan and supporting filmmakers working in areas such as arts, social welfare and citizen journalism. 

Pakistan Calling builds links between Pakistani social projects, the British Pakistani diaspora and social entrepreneurs in UK. Positive developments in Pakistani society rarely make the front pages. But in a country of 170 million people there is a multitude of progressive initiatives and programmes. Pakistan Calling aims to platform some of this work. The UK has approximately 1.2 million people of Pakistani heritage, part of a global diaspora stretching back many decades, which has an important stake, and influence in the future of Pakistan  For many film-makers in Pakistan, platforms for their work are limited. Pakistan Calling will provide a forum. The films may also challenge perceptions of today’s Pakistan and provide the basis for constructive cross-cultural dialogue between Britain and Pakistan, Islam and other faiths and traditions.

Last year’s films- which are still online- include exclusive interviews with Channel 4 Jon Snow, BBC’s Almeena Ahmed on how Pakistan is covered in the media, the work of welfare and education groups, arts organisations, women and civil rights activists. Many of the films have been made by young people in universities in Pakistan and also film students from London Metropolitan University.

In 2012 media students at The Cass launched the faculty's first in house Production Company - ‘We Make Films’ as part of their final year on the BA Film and Broadcast Production. The RSA /Samosa Film and Media project ‘Pakistan Calling ‘ was the first of ‘We Make Films” collaborative projects they have since gone on to work with The Bank Of England, Royal Academy, Hitachi and The Art Party Conference.

To view the films and read more about Pakistan Calling, visit the website and follow the #pkcalling hashtag on twitter.