Shanaakht Festival

The Shanaakht Festival is The Citizens Archive of Pakistan's attempt to showcase the country's history and to reflect on the journey the country has embarked upon. Shanaakht which means "identity" in Urdu is the nation's first free and open festival of art, photography, music, theater, story telling and much more.

The inaugural festival was held over a period of five days in August 2007, at the Karachi Arts Council, located in the heart of the city. More than four thousand Karachi-ites explored their collective identity as Pakistanis and engaged in a discourse about the 1947 partition of the Indian Sub Continent.

Through a series of curated readings, film and documentary screenings, street theatre, children's events, art and photography exhibitions, stand up comedic performances, theatrical performances, fusion-music concerts, interactive arts activities and story telling sessions the festival explored the notion of 'Pakistani identity'. The festival attracted visitors of all ages, ethnicities, backgrounds and beliefs eager to acknowledge and participate in movements that expressed and preserved the nation's history, identity and spirit.

Most recently CAP held its second Shanaakht Festival from 9-11 November 2009. The festival explored Pakistan's history and culture in the 1950s. Over the course of three days, students from government and private schools visited the Children's Imagination Stations set up by CAP and participated in interactive arts activities, viewed Oral History Project film clips, saw historical photographs come to life on 3-D images, watched snippets of some Pakistan's best loved films from the golden age of Pakistani cinema and viewed hundreds of never before seen photographs culled from our archives in six photography exhibitions.

The Imperial Gardens venue lit up in the evening for three consecutive days as CAP presented free evening events with theatre by Sheema Kirmani, a literary evening and musical performances by bands such as Fuzon, Noori, Taal Karisma, Laal and Aunty Disco Project to an audience of more than 6000 people.

Plans are already brewing for the next Shanaakht Festival, slated for 2011.