‘Faces of Hope’ captivates attention

ADIL MAKHDOOMI
Srinagar Nov 19: In a bouquet of six documentary films which were screened in Allama Iqbal library auditorium at Kashmir University by the department of Media Education Research Centre on Monday, the documentary film ‘Faces of Hope’ captivated the attention of the audience.
All the documentary films were made by the students of MERC in collaboration with their department, except the ‘Faces of Hope’. According to the director of the film Arif Bashir, this film is the result of our own hard work and the department has nothing to do with it.
The film ‘Faces of Hope’ reveals the problems faced by the children of Gujar tribes on the outskirts of Gulmarg in terms of their education. Besides, the film highlights the SSA’s ( Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan ) efforts of implementation of mobile schools to reach the far flung areas in order to provide these children with education which otherwise remain deprived of it. The film beautifully projects the hidden desires of those innocent children who want to overcome the darkness of illiteracy.
The crew of the documentary film ‘faces of Hope’ consists of director Arif Bashir, Assistant director Mehboob Jeelani, researcher Ashfaq Ahmad, Amir, Tariq, Rashid and Raja Amir.
The crew describes the film as a rebellious activity because their proposal was rejected by the department authorities. They also said that it is their own production and all the requisites were made possible by themselves.
“We shot the entire film with a HI-Q Handy cam,” said one of the crew members.
Among the dignitaries present were Vice Chancellor Kashmir University Prof Abdul Wahid, Altaf Hussain of BBC, renowned documentary film maker Shafqat Habib and theatre and documentary film director Arshad Mushtaq.
Speaking on the occasion Vice Chancellor appreciated the efforts put by the students and hoped for more such activities by the concerned department.
The auditorium tuned to full of applauses when Arshad praised the efforts of the crew of ‘Faces of Hope’. “It is a brilliant attempt by the team by capturing the film with a handy cam.” He described the camera work of ‘Faces of Hope’ far better than the other documentary films which were shot by sophisticated equipment.
The director of the ‘Faces of Hope’ appreciated the support provided to him by his crew members. “It is a group effort and i thank my crew members who stood against all the difficulties and took the initiative. I am happy with the outcome of the film in terms of both cinematic as well as the technical things,” said the director of ‘Faces of Hope.”
Apart from the ‘Faces of Hope’, Date with Dachigam, Cruising Despair, Call me Juma, An Untitled Film and Begging Machines were among the other documentaries screened.