Works in Progress

Sonic Peacemakers

This important project is built around a documentary and 12 songs with the objective of bringing the peoples of America and Pakistan together through music. The songs are unique in that each one is performed by one Pakistani artist and one American act, working together. One stanza is in English by a known American poet/songwriter (e.g. John Coltrane) and the other in Urdu by a South Asian one (e.g. Iqbal or Faiz). Two songs have already been recorded and shot, one with Atif Aslam and members of Guns and Roses, and the other with Atif Aslam and Todd Shea and guitarist Lanny Cordolla (House of Lords, Jimmy Page, Cyprus Hill). The third and fourth songs are currently in production with Noori and Mole.The documentary film traces the development of the whole idea of Sonic Peacemakers, the interaction between Americans and Pakistanis (musical and social), the resulting transformation and a new plane of understanding and communication).

2010 Pakistan Flood Projects

Between July 2010 and September 2010, Eckova has completed five projects related to the floods for a number of international relief, rehabilitation and development organizations based in the US, resulting in successful reporting and fundraising to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. These include International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF), Islamic Relief USA, Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS), Shine Humanity and others. The work has taken us from Swat, Charsadda and Peshawar in the north all the way down to the Indus delta by the Arabian Sea

International Union For The Conservation Of Nature (IUCN) Films
This is a project based on four films dealing with four separate interventions that IUCN is spearheading.

• Gender Issues in Gunz Balochistan
• Livelihood issues in Gwadar and surrounding areas based on Mangroves
• Ecotourism  in Gwadar
• Bio Diversity project in Ziarat focusing on the conservation of Juniper forests

AHAN (Aik Hunar Aik Nagar)

AHAN is a nonprofit Pakistani organization with the objective of supporting employment generation activities, economic growth and enhancing the competitiveness of the micro and small business in the rural areas of Pakistan. The documentary film’s primary objective is promoting indigenous crafts & enhancing their marketability.  The film will show production methods of different products, materials used, and depiction of artisans skills.  The length of the film is to be 15 minutes and will be shot at various villages in Sindh.  The film will be in Urdu with English subtitles.

Thardeep Water Project

A documentary on PPAF supported DMPP Interventions to show the impact of DMPP intervention in Kachho (district Dadu) making potable water available and accessible to communities that have been suffering from disease and death as a result of water borne diseases.

NRSP Methodology for Sustainable Development

A documentary film on the methodology of NRSP social mobilization as a method to build a sustainable structure that supports building individuals, communities, linkages with government, and strengthen local people and institutions to move forward with multiple social programmes. To show the impact of the program on poverty alleviation over the past 17 yrs through specific examples.

The Sanjan Nagar Project

A two year long documentary project, tracing the development and current state of one of the most formidable yet relatively unknown phenomenon that has been quietly developing in a corner of Lahore.

The Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy & Arts (SIPA) is a non-profit organization comprising of a team of  full time members working in the fields of Philosophy, Musicology, Audio and Sound Engineering, Musical Instrument Making  and Photography. The Institute, currently based in Lahore, Pakistan, was set up in 1995 as a space for intellectual inquiry and growth in areas of interest to the founder, Raza Kazim. He conceptualized Sanjan Nagar as a laboratory for testing and developing the ideas and concepts for ideas that he had been conducted theoretical and practical research in since 1970.

Children Behind Bars (French Collaboration)
A film about juvenile justice in Pakistan. The story shows how a child is transformed from the time he enters the detention facility till the time he finally leaves. The crimes are usually petty, and if and when the case would come to trial the child would be released with a light punishment or no punishment at all. However in a classic case of 'justice delayed is justice denied' these children sit in prisons awaiting trial for months and years. In that time they lose their childhood, their innocence, develop a destructively unhealthy view of society and life, and some become hardened criminals.

The premise of the film is not how bad the prison conditions are or how horrible the treatment is. The focus is that they should not be there in the first place, that they remain imprisoned through the most important and formative part of their lives simply awaiting trial.  We will address the prison conditions, but with a clear footnote that it is of no consequence what the conditions are. In fact it hides the true problem of unlawful detention of children and the destruction of their lives.

Madrassahs: Menace or Myth
A 50 minute film which explores everyday life inside the madrassas, through the normal day of the madrassa students. The days and nights of they experience unfold in an intimate encounter with prayer, education, recreation and all daily activities through the eyes of youth. The students’ lives are intertwined with the story of madrassas themselves as told by learned and influential figures in local mosques, madrassas, government, and NGOs. Their religious, cultural, historic and political roles are explained providing the background to the students’ stories and an understanding of the current climate surrounding this institution. Together, these stories help uncover the truth about madrassas, and make a distinction between reality and perception, separate fiction from fact, and explore the causes of what has gone wrong.

Bonded Labor
Pakistan and South Asia have for centuries had a social class of people who were bonded labourers and landless people with no rights and were not part of society in terms of participating in any recognized community or social government. Many of them fled under cover of night to live in fear and insecurity of being caught or returned into servitude.  They had nothing to call their own, no identity as far as the state is concerned, almost 100% illiterate, with no concept that it was possible for them to better their situation.  These people were and have been taken advantage of by landowners, agriculturalists, and other employers of extreme low paid daily wage earners.

In 2000 the ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Manpower initiated a project near Hyderabad. against forced labor was to provide permanent settlement of members of this Hari community.  It not only succeeded in providing 75 low cost housing units for these people – in fact it has developed a successful model that has impacted health, education and poverty alleviation. It has totally transformed these families into productive members of society that are now able to support themselves, grow their families and community financially, educate their children, improve their health and give them access to a secure and stable existence which benefits not only their own families but the society at large.

The methods and impacts of the project serve as a wonderful model nationally and also internationally. A documentary film to mobilize the national and international stakeholders for bringing together their strengths to rehabilitate the extremely poor and vulnerable segments of our society, especially bonded labor.  The film will use a story approach that will take the stories of three women and through their words and visual images show the change in their lives and hopes.

Care for the elderly (Canadian Collaboration)
With an aging population, people living longer, and their children now in their fifties and sixties having parents in their eighties and nineties, there is a desperate need for some ways of discussing the issue between the generations about housing and care giving.  Also, there are young people and potential care givers who could be part of the solution.  The current aging children will be facing the same issues in the next 10 to 15 years.

Through a documentary film and a website, Home is Where the Heart Is will be reaching out to the community to see the issue in a concrete way, to have a means to open a dialogue and explore options, and to share resources and ways to look for help. The objective is to provide film and internet arena to open the discussion of the elderly and their family and caregivers into planning and finding suitable options for housing for the elderly.   Other issues concerning this same population will be explored including health, financial abuse, nutrition in a future series.

Rehabilitation for street children through music and creative arts
This a dual track project involving twenty street children who will be trained, coached and mentored by members of a leading band in Pakistan over a period of 8 weeks, resulting in a ‘band’ with a variety of instruments and voices. The objective is not so much musical as it is to bring about a positive transformation through music and collaboration. The finale will be a performance, most probably in the area where all the kids ‘live’. A documentary film will trace the development and change in the children from before the beginning of the project till the finale and beyond. The project is a collaboration between Steven Watson in New York, Eckova, and Alvaro F Rodas who recently did a similar project in the Bronx with a street performance attended by Mayor Bloomberg.