Pakistan will send an entry to the Oscars for the first time in nearly 50 years as its struggling film industry shows signs of revival, the country's first Oscar winner said Monday. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who in 2012 became the first Pakistani to claim Hollywood's most coveted gong for co-directing a documentary about victims of acid attacks, will head up the national committee charged with selecting Pakistan's entry.
Pakistan has previously submitted just two motion pictures for Oscar consideration. In 1959, "Jago Hua Savera" was submitted by Director A.J. Kardar and in 1963, the film "Ghunghat" was submitted by Director Khawaja Khurshid Anwar. But neither film secured an Oscar nomination, Chinoy said. "We are seeking films that represent the best of Pakistani cinema and will aptly represent our country in the heavily contested Best Foreign Language Film category," Chinoy told AFP. "We are inviting and encouraging all filmmakers to submit their entries and are looking forward to positive feedback and support from our film and arts industry in this regard," she added.
Chinoy, a journalist and film maker whose documentary "Saving Face" won Best Documentary last year, said there were no restrictions on subject matter for the Foreign Language category. Entries must predominantly feature a language, or languages, other than English, run for at least 40 minutes and have a theatrical release in the country that it is being submitted from, she added.
The country's lone Oscar winner said Pakistan's film industry was going through a period of revival after decades of struggling. "The Pakistani film industry is slowly experiencing a resurgence; people are going back to the cinema, new theatres are being built, and more students are opting for a career in the arts," she said. "Over the past two years, we have seen a significant rise in the number and nature of films being produced locally, from independent art films to block buster song and dance thrillers," she said.