The final event of the StarzPlay Short Film Competition (SSFC) took place where the 10 shortlisted films were shown to a panel of judges and a live audience at Cinepax Lahore. “Buray Phansay”, a comedy about two friends who find a bag of money, won the competition after deliberations by the jury of judges.

The night started off with a press conference hosted by lifestyle and fashion personality Haiya Bokhari. The press conference panel included Arif Baig Mohamed Chairman of StarzPlay, Maryam El Bacha CEO Cinepax, Syed Noor Pakistani Film Director, Omair Rana actor and director. All the panelists appreciated the efforts of StarzPlay by Cinepax and the role its playing in nourishing and providing opportunities to the next generation of filmmakers. They also expressed their desire to have the platform grow even bigger in the coming years.

At a press conference before the screening Arif Baig Mohamed, the Chairman of StarzPlay by Cinepax said “SSFC has been our dream since the inception of the company and we have been working on the short-film concept for a long while now.  We couldn’t be more proud and excited to have conducted this competition in such a successful way that it has become the biggest short film competition in Pakistan. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the talented youth of Pakistan to have taken part in such big numbers and to have trusted StarzPlay by Cinepax.”

The winner was decided by the jury of judges from the entertainment and film industry. The jury participants were Syed Noor, Omair Rana, Hamza Yousaf, Qazi Akhyar, Faizan Javed and Momin Ali Munshi. The jury of judges announced the winner after watching and scoring the movies on different criteria such as screenplay, cinematography, direction and dialogue. The winner Shahrukh Tariq will get an exclusive contract to produce a StarzPlay by Cinepax original web series.

The impact of the competition had reached and garnered intense interest, attracting more than 3,000 submissions from all over the world and over 200 entries from within Pakistan.