[Karachi ] Qalambaaz just started its seventh cycle, taking a select few screenwriters from concept to a full film script in just six months. These are writers from early to advanced careers. The program focuses on early career professional writers, not students.
FilmWriters This year, Qalambaaz has expanded to regional countries in South Asia that need infrastructural support towards scriptwriting. These include Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The founders hope to develop the pipeline and get more applications from the region in the coming years.
The mentors for the month-to-month scriptwriting meetings are international working filmmakers. This year’s mentors are returning mentors Terrie Samundra, Gabrielle Kelly, Shrihari Sathe, Arun K Vir & Sirah Haq with new mentor Tania Lotia. The focus is to also broaden the mentor circle from the region with mid and advanced career filmmakers from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the mix. In Pakistan, the resident mentor will continue to be Framji Minwalla.
Qalambaaz, a brainchild of filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal, is run under her banner Parveen Shah Productions, in conjunction with Faisal Kapadia’s Mind Map Communications, Framji Minwalla & Hollywood based Chris Huntley’s Movie Magic Screenwriting Software.
This year’s fellows are Ashar Khalid, Tazeen Bari, Nuhash Humayun, Zohaib Bilal, Vishvajith Ekanayake & Musfira Shaffi.
For more on the fellows, please visit: https://www.iramparveenbilal.com/qalambaaz