NEW DELHI: Pakistan is the only country (amongst all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)) that hasn’t sent its entry for the SCO film festival that is scheduled to be held in Mumbai from January 27 to 31.
"We had sent invites to all member countries, including Pakistan, but they haven’t sent any entry. China is not just taking part in the film festival and but has also sent Film Director Ning Ying as a jury member," Neerja Shekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.
Around 57 films will be viewed from different member countries during the course of the festival. Two films per country were selected to represent the respective SCO countries at the film festival. The participating country list includes India, Russia, China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
India is chairing the SCO council of heads of state for a year since September 2022. India joined SCO in 2017. The SCO Film Festival is being organised by the SCO Council of Head of States in association with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).
"The objective of this film festival is to built cinematic partnerships and have an exchange of programmes and also nurture young film making talent and act as a bridge between the cultures," say officials.