LONDON, DEC 07(APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday discussed cooperation with officials of British Film of Institute (BFI) to create a fund for film, certification and training. The minister visited British Film Institute (BFI) here and met with institute’s senior officials and discussed with them possible future collaboration on film making.
The minister also said that Pakistan could export skilled workers of film industry to United Kingdom which was currently facing shortage of skilled workers. He had invited British and Hollywood actors to shoot their films in Northern areas of Pakistan – famous worldwide for their pristine natural beauty.
He said the government will provide tax relief and other incentives for movies shot in Pakistan. The minister apprised the British Film Institute officials that being the Culture Minister, he planned to develop and revitalize the film industry of Pakistan.
The minister informed about his plan to establish University of Media Communication which would impart education and training in performing arts as well as film related engineering and technology. In order to revive film industry of Pakistan, the government would create a fund for Film, he added.
The Minister said Pakistan had tremendous talent to develop its film industry and recently the foreign qualified youngsters had made several successful movies. The Minister expressed his desire to establish a state-owned kids channel as currently there was no channel for kids’ entertainment in Pakistan. The BFI experts said that they would like to provide assistance in setting kids television channel.
Giving an overview of the film industry of Pakistan the Minister said until 1960 Pakistan was the third largest film producing country in the world. After that the decline started and in 2005 no film was produced. Minister said since 2006 the cinema revival has started and currently the industry is flourishing.
He said presently 187 screens in Pakistan are operational and his plan is to take this number to 1,000 in next five years.
The BFI experts shared with Minister their expertise in various film related areas like creating a fund, certification, tax relief, training and talent hunt. The BFI official welcomed Minister’s proposal for collaboration between film industries of two countries.
APP/NAHEED/SHAHZAIB
VNS Islamabad
