rom among the many memoranda of understanding signed between Iran and Pakistan during the visit of Presidents Raisi, one was on films and audio visual exchanges.

Only scant details of the MOU are available and the end result may not match the hopes it has raised. For many years, Pakistan has been trying to revive its film industry. It has appeared from the many cultural policies that have been floated by successive governments that film is the gold standard for the promotion of culture and a soft image of the country. Despite all the rhetoric and good intentions, not much has been achieved so far and the film industry is still on a ventilator.

If numbers can be a true indicator of the state of the cinema in Pakistan, it has seen good days. There was a time when about a hundred films were released annually. However, the situation has changed. The very few films that were released on Eid, have sunk without a trace. Not much has been written or r said about them in the media.

Iranian cinema, meanwhile, is considered a success story. It has made its mark with many good films that have made the connoisseurs around the world take notice. After the Iranian revolution, the government was not seen as a patron. Often painted as fundamentalist and not appreciative of diversity of cultural expression, the government was not expected to facilitate the industry. However, the Iranian has still been winning awards and critical acclaim around the world. The cinema is seen propping up alternative artistic expression, different from that of Hollywood as well as the Indian song and dance format. It has been posited as an example for cinema in other countries to emulate especially those unable to invest heavily like the Hollywood.

The Iranian model, it appears, is different from the models that have been followed by the Hollywood and Indian cinema as indeed most of the cinema in the free world or the non-socialist economies/ societies because the initiative is entirely in the private sector. There is, thus, no safety net for the producer in case the film does not do well at the box office. One has seen many a company go bust with just one flop.

Iranian cinema is considered a success story. It has made its mark in the past decades with many good films that have made the connoisseurs around the world take notice.

However, the Iranian cinema has the backing of the state. Thus the financial risk is not of the nature as in other countries. This raises the specter of limits imposed on expression by the state. If the state invests in it, does it not want its pound of flesh? Curbs on free expression can be a major weakness in such an arrangement.

Over the recent decades, some of the Iranian directors have run afoul of the regime in Iran. Some of their productions have been banned. Some of them have also had to face criminal charges. Some of the directors have tried to create space for themselves all over the world.

Majeed Majeedi visited Pakistan many years ago and the admiration that his films evoked was followed by the curiosity as to how he was able to function in an authoritarian environment. His answers were laconic. The best answer to the criticism and skepticism, of course, were the films. Those were gripping and each told a human story in an unassuming way that had great artistic merit.

The few films that were released in Pakistan on Eid have not made any impact. This does not augur well for the industry in the country. The exchanges and the documents signed and the agreements publicised have not done much for the film industry of Pakistan. In the past too, the cultural exchanges between Iran and Pakistan have been few and listless. There is a need to implement these with greater zest. The effort should go beyond the headlines and make an impact on cultural scene. Iran is a store house of various cultural expressions that belie the dour image that it appears to present on the surface. Iran and Pakistan have much to share due to the commonality of literature, visual arts and music. The potential has always been there, waiting to be tapped.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore