Lahore's Government College University turns into Hogwarts for week-long Harry Potter festival

This winter, the Government College University has been turned into a magical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the week-long Harry Potter festival began on Monday on the campus.

The festival that the university is hosting till Dec 5 also marks the screening of Pakistan’s first Harry Potter fan movie titled The Last Follower and the Resurrection of Voldemort.

This comes a decade after the last Harry Potter film The Deathly Hallows Part-2 was released in 2011. And, the quest to find what happened in the world of Harry Potter years after the death of Lord Voldemort is what inspired the Khayaali Productions, a group of students from GCU, to come up with a film on the subject.

The film is a roller coaster of magical visuals shot at the gothic architecture of GCU and it was premiered exclusively at the Bukhari Auditorium from Nov 29 and will continue till Dec 5.

Waleed Akram, a former student of GCU, is the director, cinematographer, and editor of the movie.

According to Waleed, the purpose of introducing this new genre was to show our love towards the magical world of Harry Potter for the first time. Moreover, he says, the fan-made movie also reflects the potential of our youth who pulled it off with extremely limited resources.

He said they started working on the project way back in 2018 but Covid-19 delayed some re-shoots.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Zaidi said: “Our youth has immense potential and we just need to provide them opportunities, little guidance and support.”

The main cast includes Umer Darr, Jazib Akram, Mariam Hassan Naqvi, Talha Chahour, Dua Marium, and Sheikh Mubashir. The extraordinary visual effects are done by Zeeshan Hameed. Ibrahim Hassan is the associate director and productions head of the movie.

The festival includes other than the screening of movies, Harry Potter experiential space at GCU Salam Hall, Harry Potter merchandise, food stalls, face paint and posters and photo booths.

Originally published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021