Celebrating Cultural Harmony: A Night of Theatre, Film, and Music

By: Aziz Khatri

Karachi: The 39-day World Culture Festival 2025 continues to dazzle audiences with a vibrant array of colors, captivating music, and cultural richness. On its twelfth day, the festival showcased the delightful children’s theatre play “The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs,” performed by the Eurythmy WM Stage Group from the United Kingdom under the direction of Maren Stott.

This enchanting tale follows a poor boy whose destiny, foretold at birth, promises immense fortune and a marriage to the king’s daughter. Despite the king’s relentless attempts to alter fate, the story ultimately reaffirms the power of destiny. The performance, filled with vibrant colors, dynamic movement, engaging music, and humor, captivated both children and adults and earned enthusiastic applause throughout.

As part of the "Eastern European Focus" segment, the festival screened three films that offered poignant insights into the lives and struggles of people from Eastern Europe. From Poland, filmmaker Sebastian Kwidzinski presented the powerful short drama “Mother,” which tackles themes of domestic violence and redemption, and moved many in the audience to tears. Another highlight was the moving documentary “Nihikéyah (Our Land),” a collaboration between Belarus, Lithuania, and the USA directed by Varfalamey Kuraga and Quintin Schomaker. This film depicted the heartrending story of a young family struggling with forced displacement due to coal mining in their homeland. Hungarian director Przemek Mlynczyk rounded out the evening's cinematic offerings with "Concert for Omega," a musical documentary celebrating fans who organized a tribute concert for a legendary Hungarian rock band.

The night concluded with a mesmerizing jazz performance by the acclaimed German ensemble, the Eva Klesse Quartet. The band’s soulful energy captivated the audience, further enhanced by the collaboration with renowned Pakistani musicians Ahsan Bari and Arman Rahim, alongside quartet members Evgeny Ring, Philip Frischkorn, Marc Muellbauer, and Eva Klesse.

In a fitting finale, the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation, celebrating a remarkable evening of cultural harmony and exceptional musical talent. The festival continues to serve as a platform for artistic expression and cultural exchange, truly embodying the spirit of diversity.