'Films can help spread message of change'

PNCA Director General Jamal Shah says the Asia Peace Film Festival will change Pakistan’s image

ISLAMABAD: Film has a larger canvas for disseminating any message which could bring about a positive change.

This was stated by Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) Director General Jamal Shah on the second day of the first Asia Peace Film Festival (APFF).

As many as 113 documentaries, films and other content from 30 countries are being shown at the three-day film festival.



International delegates from South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Japan, Turkey, and Hong Kong are participating in the first-ever Asia Peace Film Festival. Shah said that the federal government’s support to APFF speaks of its deep interest in films to maintain peace in the country and in the world.

“The Asia Peace Film Festival would change Pakistan’s image worldwide,” he said.

Apart from bringing together filmmakers, Shah explained that going forward APFF plans to design and conduct short courses on ‘film for peace’, engaging Asian universities, press clubs and media academies.

The finalists of APFF-Pakistan Edition would be decorated with National Awards from the government of Pakistan. The finalist films would be screened as a part of learning curriculum and case studies at the media and communication departments of universities as well as at the press clubs across Asia.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2017.