Lok Virsa to screen classic film Oliver Twist tomorrow

 

ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa)’s Mandwa Film Club would screen literary classic film Oliver Twist on December 16 at its media centre.

Executive Director Lok Virsa Dr Fouzia and film fans from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are expected to attend the film screening.

Oliver Twist (2005) is a film adaptation by director Roman Polanski, starring Ben Kingsley, Barney Clark, Michael Heath and Jeremy Swift. The screenplay is written by Ronald Harwood. The book written by Charles Dickens in 1839, Oliver Twist is hailed as a social novel that satirises hypocrisies of Dickens’ time, including child labour, recruitment of children as criminals and plight of street children. In the Nineteenth Century, orphan Oliver Twist is sent from the orphanage to a workhouse, where the children are mistreated and barely fed. He moves to the house of an undertaker, but after an unfair beating, he starts a seven-day runaway to London.

He arrives exhausted and starving and is soon welcomed in a gang of pickpockets lead by the old crook Fagin. When he is mistakenly taken as a thief, the wealthy victim Brownlow brings Oliver to his home and shelters him. But Fagin and the dangerous Bill Sykes decide to kidnap Oliver to burglarise Brownlow’s fancy house.

The film was released to a limited number of theatres but earned a generally good reception among the critics with most describing it as “visually exact and detailed without being too picturesque”.–APP

 

British HC launches 3rd ‘Great Debate’ competition

 

ISLAMABAD: The British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew, announced launching the ‘Great Debate’ competition at the British High Commission in Islamabad.

According to a press release issued on Thursday, the Great Debate 2017 is the third annual edition of the competition that gives students from across the country a platform to participate in debates, interact with other students from different universities and hone their skills in research, analytical thinking and public speaking.

Thomas Drew said while announcing the launch of the competition, “We are delighted to present the third Great Debate competition. I am looking forward to seeing the top student debaters from across Pakistan engage in a healthy competition”.

“The Great Debate 2017 edition is an important part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of UK-Pakistan relations and this year’s topics complement the theme of the Commonwealth Summit in 2018”, the high commissioner added. The winner of last year’s debate Taha Ahmed said, “The competition was an incredible experience to be a part of. The scholarship money eased burden of my tuition. However, it was the relationships I built with other competitors that were priceless. I wish the competitors of this year’s competition all the best.”

The first semi-final of the debate occurred in the University of Gujrat where debaters competed for a place in the final. After a competitive round of debates, Umer Waqas Ahmed and Mahum Shoaib were judged to be the winner and runner-up respectively.–Staff Report

 

ITP constitutes teams to check traffic violations

 

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Traffic Police constituted special teams to check traffic violations and ensure use of patterned number plates, seats belts and helmets by the motorcyclists.

The teams have been constituted following directions of Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal and IG ICT Police Sultan Azam Temuri. The teams would erect thirty pickets at various points for checking traffic violations.

A campaign is already underway, in which as many as 26,547 motorists having no number plates on their vehicles have been fined. Likewise, 39,740 motorists were fined for not fastening the seat belts, 24,241 for using mobile phones while driving and 127,331 for not using helmets during bike ride.

On the other hand, 47,828 citizens were educated about traffic rules during the campaign.–Staff Report