A cross-border production by two filmmakers who never once met in person during its three-year shoot is the first film shown in a special cinema package at the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Directed by Miriam Chandy Menacherry from Mumbai and Maheen Zia from
Karachi. the film is structured as a coming-of-age story, following the lives
of four girls, Aqsa, Mehroz, Javeria and Sherbano, who live in multi-ethnic,
volatile Lyari. Lugging guitars that are bigger than themselves, the girls make
the often perilous journeys to a music school in the suburb. The commute is so
dangerous that their instructor Hamza Jafri – a musician famous for his
hard-hitting political lyrics – travels in an armed vehicle.
Covering the period from 2012-2015, the narrative intertwines personal
story arcs with on the ground events in Pakistan – general elections, the
awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai in 2014 and the attack on
Army Public School in Peshawar later that year – as seen through the eyes of
the young protagonists.
“The story is timeless and universal: on the search for a space of
creativity and self-expression in the face of overt threats and violence. Such
spaces are quickly shrinking around the world when confronted by ideologies and
extremism of all hues. The individual acts of seeking them out despite the
risks are crucial acts of resistance and deserve not only to be chronicled, but
also communicated to diverse audiences on diverse platforms. The screening of Lyari
Notes on the sidelines of the Biennale is one such attempt,” said
Riyas Komu, KBF Secretary.
The making of the film was a story in itself – with Menacherry and Zia
communicating via Skype chats, enlisting the help of Indian and Pakistani cine
technicians and transmitting footage across the border by swapping hard drives.
In between, Zia would film in Karachi – when advised by the locals of Lyari
that it was safe to do so – and Menacherry would edit in Mumbai. Going through
a crowd-funding phase in December-January 2015, the film received about 100
contributors from across the world.
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