Moscow, Russian Federation, April 4th, 2022. The jury of the 12th annual Kinofestival “Light of the world” gives out an honorable mention to the Pakistani documentary, Station of Life, a short observational film about the lives of coolies. The project with its executive producers, Shoaib Adil and Syed Ovais Ali was cinematographed by Aisha B. The docu “Station of Life- Broken but not Shattered” was directed and produced by Khalid Hasan Khan.
Russian Kinofestival gives out a mention to the Pakistani documentary Station of Life
Station of Life, as per the filmmaker; “is a fly on the wall documentary with minimal intrusion, which shows a lot while keeping its distance by telephotoing the touching images of pitiful porters with a detailing approach, all in a day’s work of these labor-intensive subjects”. It primarily captured the toil of porters at Karachi Cantonment Station, who work all day long, by the dint of their blue-collar hard work, for a handful of money. Most of these overburdened workmen sleep on the station benches or platforms and have no care or shelter available to them. A vast majority of these hamals, consists of either young migrant workers or elderly folks, from across Pakistan, who got no choice but to carry heavy baggage to make their ends meet.
The purpose of the Kinofestival is to promote the spiritual, moral, patriotic and aesthetic education of the modern youth. The festival is co-organized by the Rybinsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and the National copyright holders support Fund, Moscow. The recent “Light of the World” edition was supported by the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society from the presidential grants fund.
The festival is annually held by the administration of the Yaroslavl region and its subjects, state, commercial and public structures, PIA “Russian chronicle” Yaroslavl, the center, Sunny, Rybinsk, the gallery of modern Orthodox art and painting “Under the Holy cover”, Uglich, as well as the media.
The Kinofestival’s jury is composed of the chairman of Bishop of Rybinsk and Danilovsky Veniamin along with eminent jury members, including film enthusiasts and industry stalwarts from Armenia, Belarus, Italy and Ukraine.