Film Industry Hails Funds Allocation For National Film Academy (NFA)

The film industry on Thursday hailed the allocation of funds for the establishment of National FilmAcademy (NFA) in Federal Budget 2018-19.

Renowned artists including Qavi Khan, Mustafa Qureshiand others expressed pleasure over the allocation of funds for NFA. They also hailed the reduction in taxes on importof film equipments. Senior officials of pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) said the Director General of the organization also aims to set up cinema screens within the academy's vicinity.

The vision is to make PNCA a self-earning entity. The film academy would also be established by PNCA, they said. Director General PNCA, Syed Jamal Shah said that PNCA aims to work towards the revival of art in the country.

To support this claim, he said that his organization has decided to launch youth clubs for music, theatre, dance and performing arts in the country. The government has been allocated an amount of Rs 47 million for the establishment of NFA.

The federal government also extended a proposal about a film industry package in the current national budget. The budget proposals said that Pakistan film industry was at No 3 in the world in 1960s, and there was great need to uplift it again.

The Customs Duty was reduced to 3 percent and sales tax to 5 percent on the import of goods and machinery related to films, cinema and dramas. It has also been proposed that income tax may be reduced to 50 percent for the persons and companies which will invest in film-making.

The 50 percent concession will also be given to those foreign companies which will produce films in Pakistan.Besides this, a revolving fund will be allocated to help needy artists and film technicians.