A film by Maheen Zia and Miriam Chandy Menacherry
80 minutes, 2015-16, India and Pakistan, Hindi /English with English Subtitles
The story is timeless and universal on the search for a space for creativity
and self-expression in the face of overt threats and violence
Riyas Komu, Artistic Director Kochi-Biennale, Tribune
In Pakistan a rock star teaches a group of girls to express themselves through music in Karachi’s most volatile district.
Hamza Jafri travels in an armed vehicle. He is a musician famous for his hard hitting political lyrics since the 1990s. Since then religious fundamentalism has been on the rise with shops selling music torched, concerts bombed and musicians threatened with death. Seeing the shrinking space for music and artists Hamza opens a music school.
Captured over 3 years Lyari Notes is the narrative of four young girls who attend Hamza’s music school and learn what it takes to express oneself despite the cycles of violence.
Lyari Notes is a film about melting boundaries…in spirit as well as how the film was made.
Festivals and Awards
World premiere (Amsterdam) – Nov 2015 at the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam where it was nominated by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists – EDA Award.
India premiere (Mumbai) – Feb 2nd 2016 at the Mumbai International Film Festival in the international competition category.
US premiere and Opening Film at Indie Meme International Film Festival (Austin) – April 2016, the first South Asian Film Festival in Austin.
UK Sheffield Doc Fest (Sheffield) – June 2016 Nominated for the Youth Jury Award.
Visions Du Reel (Nyon, Switzerland) – April 2016 selected for the viewing room.
Long listed for the One World Media Awards (BAFTA, London) – June 2016.
Peace Builders Film Festival as the Closing film (New Delhi) – October 2016.
ARY Film Festival (Karachi) – May 2017, winner of excellence in best documentary feature.
The Film Makers
Miriam Chandy Menacherry is the founder, director at Filament Pictures, a Mumbai based production house. She has pitched and produced award winning films that have been broadcast on international channels like the National Geographic channel, BBC world and Arte. Her last documentary The Rat Race weaves together the narratives of rat killers in Mumbai. It won the Mipdoc Co production Challenge at Cannes, premiered at IDFA and won the audience awards at Florence and Kerala. It is one of the rare documentaries to get theatrical releases in 3 Indian cities winning critical acclaim.
Maheen Zia is a Pakistani film director and editor. She has a degree in radio and television production from Drake University USA and teaches at the Department of visual studies Karachi University. She is one of the founding members of Pakistan’s young international film festival – The Kara Film Festival and has served as a juror at international film festivals in Tehran, Tampere, Hyderabad and Kabul. She is the winner of the India EU Film initiative – Berlin Today Award – for her film `Match Factor’.
Miriam and Maheen are amongst 18 mid-career filmmakers selected from Asia and the Middle East for the Global Media Makers Program 2019-2020 by Film Independent and the US State Department with their new film projects.
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You can watch the film here
Password: lyarinotesnov212015
After the screening, from 8:00 pm IST, you can join the film makers for a live discussion on Facebook.
Kindly click here to participate in the open discussion.
You can ask questions by writing in the 'comment' section while the live stream of the discussion is being broadcast.
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