PAKISTANI FILMAKER LAUNCHES PLATFORM TO TEACH SCREENPLAY WRITING
QALAMBAAZ, Pakistan’s first professional development program for screenplay writing produced by Parveen Shah Productions and helmed by the renowned Pakistani filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal, the force behind the films Josh & THE Ph.D. MOVIE, is all set for its nationwide launch on Monday, Aug 24, 2015.
With the goal of taking an idea to screenplay within the period of six months, Qalambaaz was started off in 2014 on a small scale by Bilal – where 6 aspiring writers were paired off with Afia Nathaniel, Sumit Roy, Amit Kumar, Sameer Gardezi, Zak Shaikh and Musa Syeed, internationally recognized TV and film writers, to hone their screenplay & script-writing skills.
At the culmination of the six months, Qalambaaz went a step further to teach writer’s the value and art of pitching and selling their screenplays and got to pitch to industry stalwarts, with a “trial by fire” panel comprising of Nadeem Mandviwalla, Wajahat Rauf, Iram Parveen Bilal and Faisal Kapadia.
“Qalambaaz is something of a dream, born out of my desire as a writer to provide a platform for other writers in the wake of the revival of Pakistani cinema,” remarks Iram Parveen Bilal. “I now wish to see it develop further as THE platform for aspiring screenwriters across Pakistan.”
Talking about her experience launching Qalambaaz in 2014, Bilal said “It was extremely fulfilling to see people who were just talking about their ideas they wanted to make, just eight months ago, actually having completed scripts now and to see the growth and the visualization of a possible, yet challenging journey, to translate those scripts into awe-inspiring films.”
Registrations for Qalambaaz open on from Monday, August 24, 2015. Application details to be announced on www.facebook.com/qalambaaz.
