LAHORE, Aug 27: The Punjab Council of Arts will screen short films and documentaries made by students of film and television departments at different institutions in near future.

The screenings will be a weekly affair (Saturday night) and entry will be free.

The council will also organise an art and craft festival in Lahore in winter and it will be an annual feature in the city’s cultural calendar.

Punjab Council of Arts Executive Director Chaudhry Asif told Dawn on Tuesday that steps were being taken to make the council vibrant. He said the students were producing short films and documentaries with novel ideas and approaches and their talent should be made public. That’s why the council had decided to hold weekly screenings at the Open Air Theatre, Bagh-i-Jinnah, he said.

He said the council would try to introduce traditional art and craft from Punjab through its festival which would be held once a year.

As for the role of 10 divisional arts councils working under the Punjab Council of Arts, he said earlier there had been limited interaction of divisional councils with the head office in Lahore. The interaction was limited to only grants and programme schedules but from now onwards there would be a broader interaction, he said.

He said the deputy directors of drama, literature, programmes and fine arts would coordinate with the resident directors of the 10 arts councils and their programming schedules would be properly discussed.

To introduce talent from cities other than Lahore, he said the divisional councils had been directed to prepare lists under the talent hunt programme so that the council could hold evenings with them both in divisions and Lahore.

The council was also working for the reconstitution of its Board of Governors which had been non-existent for the last four years. He said a number of projects proposed by the council could not be framed due to absence of its BoG.

The council would weekly hold a music night for amateur singers at the Open Air Theatre under the title ‘Mehfil-i-Shauq’. A weekly ‘Children Theatre’ also would be introduced on Sundays in which puppet shows and story telling would be main attractions for children.

“The council is writing letters to schools and colleges to establish Bazm-i-Adab Societies and the Department of Education would also be a partner in the programme. The school and college students who would be in those societies would also participate in council’s literary evenings,” he said.