Pakistan International Film Festival holds special effects makeup workshop for cinema

Special effects makeup is an integral part of modern cinema. It is not only used to create aliens and monsters, but to create a realistic character that audiences can connect with and believe in. Keeping in mind the importance of SFX makeup in film and television and the limited options available locally, the Karachi Film Society organized a two-day SFX makeup workshop for film and television with Turkish experts Murat Polat and Sezen Can from Türkiye. The workshop was part of the women’s edition of the 3rd Pakistan International Film Festival 2021, which was postponed due to the international Covid19 lockdown. PiFF Women’s Edition hosted a series of insightful, engaging, interactive and educational panel discussions and seminars/webinars on various topics, celebrating the tremendous achievements of women in the entertainment industry in Pakistan.

Held at the Arts Council in Karachi, the first day of the workshop by Sezen Can, an on-screen beauty and fashion industry specialist with experience working in popular films such as The Big Flight, Never Leave Me and Aile Arasinda gave exclusive tips and live demonstrations on how to apply traumatic makeup, the different stages and SFX makeup aging techniques. The second day of the workshop featured Murat Polat, an SFX makeup specialist with experience working in over 500 projects, including popular Netflix series The Protector and Turkish original Alev Alev. He introduced attendees to the different types of trauma makeup kits, sculpting techniques, different lighting setups, wound applications, transfer techniques, and how to add depth to various applications with makeup via live demos and exclusive tips.

The workshop was supported and assisted by makeup experts Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Masarrat Misbah, Angie Marshall and aspiring makeup artists who appreciated KFS’ efforts in organizing such an educational workshop. The workshops were streamed live on the official social media pages of PiFF for those who were unable to attend due to the current monsoon in Karachi.

KFS President Sultana Siddiqui, in her closing speech, thanked the Turkish guests, Arts Council Chairman Mohammad Ahmed Shah, Sindh Provincial Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Syed Sardar Ali Shah and participants for their support in making the two-day workshop a huge success. . She also underlined the importance of organizing such educational workshops to nurture the talent of Pakistan. In his speech, Provincial Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah appreciated the efforts of KFS and gave the support of the provincial government to the vision of KFS to improve the technical skills of young budding talents in different categories of cinema and films.