Ali Zafar has taken his blockbuster film Teefa in Trouble to the Silk Road International Film Festival (SRIFF), which is currently underway in Fuzhou, China.
The film was screened to over 30 Chinese mainstream distributors at the festival where Ali Zafar was invited to initiate a conversation about enhancing cinematic ties between Pakistan and China. Ali — alongside Vice President of China Film Group Corporation, Mr Ping and Chairperson of SRIFF, Mr Xiaotian — spoke about the rapidly growing Pakistani film industry and the potential for investment and growth in it.
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“These are very important times for our industry with a long way to go to really achieve our full potential. We welcome all dialogue and initiatives to enable us to realise this full potential,†Ali said at the festival.
Ali Zafar at SRIFF
Speaking about the success of Teefa In Trouble, he highlighted that the film had a successful run in Pakistan, making approximately $2.7m in the home country alone with only 101 screens. “Considering Pakistan’s population, we have a potential market of 1,000-1,500 screens which could easily multiply the business to 10/15 times more than its current value or beyond. Hence investment into Pakistan is sure to be lucrative.â€
During his address, Ali also said that Pakistani film students should be given an opportunity to work alongside Chinese film students in order to promote diversity of Pak-China cultures. “This will not only help diversify our understanding towards each other’s cultures but also accentuate the artistic expression alongside creating massive commercial prospects. Pakistan has enormous potential and is a beautiful country and the world must get to see it,” he added.
