Prioritise homegrown films over foreign films: Filmmakers talk Eid releases

A press release stated that all five films have faced a financial ruin with a ‘foreign film’ monopolising the cinemas

The Pakistani film industry peaked this festive season with five original and distinct Eid releases in cinemas after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus from the big screens. However, Marvel’s most anticipated movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness monopolised the cinema screens on the fourth day of the festive occasion, giving less or no space for local releases to make their mark.

“One Punjabi and four Urdu films that had been under production for over 2 years finally got the Eid release they deserved but had to face the challenge of foreign film which as we speak occupies more than 50% screens and even 100% in some cinema sites,” stated a press release signed by filmmakers Adnan Siddiqui, Wajahat Rauf, Yasir Nawaz, Syed Noor, and Hasan Zia, which did not name the Marvel movie.

Disappointed in the Ministry of Protection and affected by a “financial ruin”, the team of filmmakers have called for an urgent press conference to address the issue of foreign releases being given priority over local production.

“We have reservations and want to appeal to the government in resolving this situation where we face a loss on our investments and deprive the Pakistani public of their own homegrown films.”

They went on to make an urgent appeal to the government, media and showbiz fraternity to join them at the Art Council Karachi on Saturday at 4 pm, where they promised to highlight “why this [giving more screen time to foreign films] may be a deathly blow to the local film producers.”