ISLAMABAD: In a bid to further strengthen cultural ties, the Pakistan National Council of the Arts and the Embassy of Kazakhstan arranged a screening of a movie titled “Kazakh Khanate – Diamond Sword” at the PNCA auditorium on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Murtaza Solangi, Caretaker Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Jamal Shah, and Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Yerzhan Kistafin, along with Director General PNCA Muhammad Ayoub Jamali, and a large number of people attended the film screening.
Addressing the screening ceremony of a Kazakh film, Murtaza Solangi underlined the need to promote cinemas in the country to foster cultural values of tolerance and harmony in society.
The minister said that nothing impresses, educates, and illuminates better than cinema. Probably hundreds of hyperbolic, high-pitch, and hyperventilating speeches cannot educate you like this film.
He thanked the ambassador of Kazakhstan in Pakistan and Caretaker Minister for Culture and Heritage Jamal Shah for inviting him to speak at the screening of “Kazakh Khanate.”
He said that nobody probably in this auditorium could truly represent cinema better than Jamal Shah. He lives and breathes cinema.
The minister resolved to work with his cabinet colleague to promote the culture through cinema.
He said that we will try, both with and without the government, to do our job to resolve the problems people face today.
We have big challenges in front of us, and one of those in the domain of culture and perception is extreme intolerance, personality cult, and cult worship that would not be cured by criminalizing things.
He said that law will and shall take its course, but when it comes to dealing with long-term consequences, there is nothing better than culture. In culture, cinema holds a special place, so we must promote good cinemas.
He assured the Kazakh ambassador of all-out support of the Ministry and its attached departments.
Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture Jamal Shah said that it was a really educational film, which specifies that honor, dignity, and solidarity are above anything else.
Movie screening reflects growing cultural bilateral ties
The minister also noted that the film screening reflects the growing cultural and collaborative relations between Pakistan and Kazakhstan. He emphasized the paramount significance of cultural exchanges, acknowledging the picturesque landscapes and rich cultural heritage of the region.
Jamal Shah expressed a keen interest in enhancing collaboration in movies and cinema to further fortify bilateral cultural relations.
The Ambassador of Kazakhstan, Yerzhan Kistafin, emphasized that through the prism of the movie, the life of the people of that time, the geopolitical conditions of the formation of the Kazakh Khanate, and details of costumes and battle scenes were conveyed.
He said that this is a film based on footage from a great historical show. The envoy appreciated PNCA and the National Heritage and Culture Division for collaborating on the Kazakhstan movie screening.
The film was screened in Urdu.