Films from Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Poland and other European countries shared the screen with Pakistani shorts as the European Film Festival Pakistan returned to Islamabad for its fifth edition this weekend.
Held at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) on September 12 and 13, the festival offered more than back-to-back film screenings. Visitors could step inside a train-themed installation, try their hand at an oversized game, add to a communal mural, join storytelling and origami sessions, or simply settle in for a film.
The event was organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan in partnership with Olomopolo Media.
What began in 2021 as a single screening has since grown into a multi-city festival. This year’s edition is traveling to 11 cities across Pakistan, with Sialkot and Jamshoro still to come.
European shorts, Pakistani stories
The Islamabad program featured 16 European short films alongside 11 Pakistani productions.
The European selection ranged from the Irish films An Irish Goodbye and Turnaround to Portuguese titles including Neighboring Graves, How Fernando Pessoa Saved Portugal and Young Lady. Other selections came from Spain, Belgium, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Pakistani filmmakers were represented through films including Karmash, The Send Off (Rukhsati), Lehrein, Shehr-e-Tabassum, Chalti Tasveerain, Manduva, Swipe and Seabirds.
A French-Czech feature, Living Large, was another draw. The award-winning animated comedy follows coming-of-age themes including appearance and bullying.
Rather than keeping the festival confined to European cinema, its programming placed the international selection alongside stories rooted in Pakistan’s own languages and communities.
Cinema meets cultural heritage
The festival’s Cultural Heritage series took audiences beyond conventional film programming, with documentaries exploring places, traditions and practices from different parts of Pakistan.
Khusal Goes to the Kalasha Valleys was presented in English and Pashto, while Journey to the Centre of Karez was screened in English and Balochi. The Magic of Making Glaciers in Gilgit-Baltistan combined English and Burushaski.
The films offered a glimpse into the Kalasha Valleys, the Karez irrigation system and glacier-related practices in Gilgit-Baltistan, bringing regional languages and local stories into an event centered on international cinema.
Something for younger visitors too
Children were a visible part of the festival audience, with schools bringing groups of students to PNCA.
Interactive storytelling by Suno Kahani Meri Zubani (SKMZ) and origami sessions gave younger visitors something to do between screenings, while coloring and puzzle stations were set up for both children and families.
Schools attending included Nova Heights Montessori, Little Star Grammar, Marium School Foundation, Speed Education School, Islamabad Model School for Girls, Pehli Kiran, Islamabad Model College for Boys, Bardasht School and Nisbat.
The festival also turned some of its film trivia into a game. In the Human Slot Game, volunteers could reveal filmmaker facts and compete for a festival pin.
Another installation, the EUFF-Pakistan Express, used a train structure as a setting for screenings, storytelling and a photo booth.
Visitors could also take part in the Doodles Mural: Life in Technicolours, a large collaborative coloring installation, while EUFF Bingo encouraged festival-goers to move around and try different activities.
A festival built around stories
EU Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis, speaking at the Islamabad edition, pointed to the festival’s expansion across the country.
“I am delighted to be here with you. This festival is now in its fifth year and that is something worth celebrating. Our journey has already taken us across Pakistan, from Quetta to Gujrat, from Lahore to Gilgit, from Karachi to Faisalabad, from Peshawar to Multan and this year we continue from Islamabad to Sialkot and Hyderabad. But the journey is more than geographical; it is a journey of stories, ideas and imagination.”
Karoblis also linked cinema to wider issues facing audiences around the world.
“They raise awareness, spark conversation and inspire action. These films do not offer clear answers instead they invite us to ask questions and that is the power of art – to challenge us, make us think and help us see the world and each other differently,” he added.
For Olomopolo Director Kanwal Khoosat, the fifth edition marks another step in the festival’s expansion.
“This fifth year marks an important milestone for us. By the end of this edition, EUFF will have travelled to 11 cities across Pakistan, carrying stories told in many European languages, alongside films in five regional languages of Pakistan. It is a journey that continues to widen the space for cultural exchange, creative dialogue and connection across languages and geographies.”
The festival now heads to Sialkot on September 16 and 17, with screenings at Government College Women University and The Grid, before concluding its 2026 run in Jamshoro on September 29 and 30.
For Islamabad audiences, however, the weekend’s edition was as much about spending time around cinema as sitting down to watch it — with films, games, art, storytelling and activities sharing the same festival floor.