Pakistan announces scholarships for filmmakers to portray its ‘soft image’
PM Khan wants young people to promote Pakistanism
Pakistan has decided to give scholarships to young filmmakers to portray its soft image, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday.
He was addressing the National Amateur Short Film Festival organised by the Ministry of Information and ISPR in Islamabad. "We should promote our cultural values and new ideas."
Young people should promote "Pakistanism" in their movies.
He remarked that he has seen the evolution of the country's film industry. "In my opinion, we started going in the wrong direction in the beginning because we were so inspired by the Indian film industry that we started copying them". Instead of naturing Pakistani thoughts, we adopted a foreign culture without critically analysing it.
In the 60s and 70s, people would go to Kabul to watch Bollywood films. "Because of its impact, we thought that the Indian film industry is better than us. We thought if we copy the Indian content, people would like that here as well."
'Media promotes state's narratives'
Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain said the government is taking bold steps to utilise modern technologies for filmmaking purposes.
He said media plays an important role in promoting the narrative of states.
As per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government is establishing first Digital Media University this year, he shared. "Thanking the ISPR, he said it has given a new dimension to short films in the country which is commendable."
He said Radio Pakistan, national news agency APP, and PTV will start their digitalised services by August this year.
National Amateur Short Film Festival
The National Amateur Short Film Festival was organised by the Inter Services Public Relations to promote aspiring filmmakers and to award the best short films which were submitted from all across Pakistan.
There were 2,300 submissions out of which 15 were selected as the best. Filmmakers whose films were selected as the best will be awarded scholarships and will be sent to the best film schools across the globe.
The awards were presented by prime minister Imran Khan and the categories were best undergrad film, special film, mobile film, and youngest filmmaker.
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