Despite Hiccups Ma Boli Punjabi Film Festival’s Inaugural Edition Shines Light On “Our Stories”

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SURREY – The inaugural edition of the Ma Boli International Punjabi Film Festival was not without its hiccups, including organizational problems and one quite upset veteran actor who was promised an award but instead was snubbed by one of the organizers.

But despite the problems, which the organizers will have to learn from if they want to continue with the festival, it did shine a light on “our stories”, specifically Punjabi stories in the form of short documentaries, short dramas and so forth.

“The festival featured short films that addressed social issues while giving underlying messages on how to resolve those issues in an aggressive manner. Many of the audience were emotionally affected by the content as some were brought to tears on account of the reality of social injustice”, said Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society (PICS) head Charan Gill . “A few of the films focused on environmental issues and how that affects the South Asian community.”

LINK editor-filmmaker R. Paul Dhillon premiered his documentary on Punjabi folk legend Amar Singh Chamkila  titled The Legend Of Amar Singh Chamkila. The film created a stir with and a heated debate which a controversial artist like Chamkila is bound to. Dhillon has made this film for OMNI Television which will be showcasing it later this year in a Canadian national broadcast of the film

Chief organizer Sukhi Bath thanked everyone for making the inaugural edition of the festival a success and handed out certificates to all the filmmakers and even those who didn’t have any films in the festival. Veteran Punjabi film writer Baldev Gill was the recipient of the main honour of Lifetime Achievement!