KARACHI - The four-day Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) finally came to a close on Sunday night, with a closing ceremony and gala awards night.

As expected, the grand finale of the festival, which took place at six venues throughout Karachi and included film screenings and panel discussions, saw the who’s who of entertainment industry grace the red carpet.

At the show, the international delegation of film-makers, writers and actors that had come to Karachi for PIFF was also present.

“Since childhood, it was reinforced that Pakistan is the enemy. But the biggest enemy was Wasim Akram,” said SS Rajamouli, director of the Indian blockbuster 'Bahubali', speaking to the first hosts of the evening Azfar Rehman and Sarwat Gilani. “But we’re one people and have been together for thousands of years.”

Apart from a fun little segment which saw the hosts interact with the Pakistani and Indian artists, some awards were presented. Anjuli S from India won in the Best Documentary Short category for "Veil Done", which explores the stories of three burqa-clad women from Delhi who take charge of their lives and go through a transformative journey.

Mahera Omar from Pakistan won the Best Documentary Feature award for "Parveen Rehman: The Rebel Optimist" based on the life of the late Pakistani activist who was murdered in 2013. Hamid Reza Hosseinian from Iran won the Best Short Film trophy for "Aghaie Nazim", while the Best Feature Film went to Mehreen Jabbar for "Lala Begum".

Sahir Ali Bagga won the Best Music award for "Arth: The Destination". Actor Hania Aamir won the Best Debut (Female) and Ali Rehman Khan won Best Debut (Male) for "Janaan". Khalilur Rehman was named the Best Writer for "Punjab Nahi Jaungi". And lastly, PIFF honoured Ali Zafar with the Artist for Peace award. - Agencies