LONDON: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain onFriday discussed cooperation with the officials of British Film ofInstitute (BFI) to create a fund for film, certification and training.
The minister visited the British Film Institute (BFI) here and met itssenior officials to discuss possible future collaboration on film making.
Fawad said that Pakistan could export skilled workers of film industry tothe United Kingdom, which was currently facing shortage of skilled workers.He invited British and Hollywood actors to shoot their films in thenorthern areas of Pakistan – famous worldwide for their pristine naturalbeauty.
He said the government would provide tax relief and other incentives formovies shot in Pakistan.
He apprised the British Film Institute officials that being the cultureminister, he planned to develop and revitalize the film industry ofPakistan. He also informed them about his plan to establish University ofMedia Communication, which would impart education and training inperforming arts as well as film related to engineering and technology.
In order to revive film industry, the government would create a fund forfilm, he added.
The minister said Pakistan had tremendous talent to develop its filmindustry and recently the foreign qualified youngsters had made severalsuccessful movies.
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He expressed the desire to establish a state-owned kids channel ascurrently there was no channel for kids’ entertainment in Pakistan. The BFIexperts said that they would like to provide assistance in setting kidstelevision channel.
Giving an overview of the film industry of Pakistan, the minister saiduntil 1960 Pakistan was the third largest film producing country in theworld. After that the decline started and in 2005 no film was produced.However, since 2006 the cinema revival had started and currently theindustry was flourishing.
He said presently 187 screens were operational in Pakistan and his plan wasto take the number to 1,000 in next five years.
The BFI experts shared with the minister their expertise in various filmrelated areas like creating a fund, certification, tax relief, training andtalent hunt. They welcomed the minister’s proposal for collaborationbetween film industries of the two countries.
