Punjab is set to open its first modern film city in Lahore on December 15, with officials confirming that preparations for the launch are now complete. The date was announced on Sunday at the first meeting of the Punjab Film Authority, which was chaired by Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, and the meeting approved a series of decisions intended to breathe new life into the province’s film industry, encourage modern filmmaking and restore Lahore’s standing as the country’s cinematic heart.
At the centre of the package is a landmark move for performers and creators, as Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has approved the drafting of Pakistan’s first royalty law for artists. The proposed legislation will be placed before the next meeting of the Film Authority, and it promises to give artists a formal legal claim to earnings from their work, a protection that has long been missing from the industry and that could change how performers, musicians and writers are paid for years to come.
The meeting also approved the physical backbone of the new film city, including a film and music school, a film trading house, a post-production facility and a studio complex fitted with modern soundstages. Pakistan’s largest convention centre will also be built in Punjab as part of the wider plan. The film city itself was first announced by Maryam Nawaz in April as an integrated media production hub in Lahore, bringing training, production and business under one roof rather than leaving filmmakers to piece together facilities on their own.
Financial support for filmmakers was another major theme of the meeting. Marriyum Aurangzeb directed officials to present a film rebate framework at next week’s meeting, saying the policy would offer direct financial backing to productions and help lift the quality of films being made in the province. A single-window online platform will also be launched to help filmmakers find and choose suitable shooting locations, cutting through the paperwork that has often slowed productions down.
On the administrative side, a proposed budget of Rs. 589 million for the Film City Authority has been sent to the finance committee for review. The authority also approved the hiring of 26 people against 53 vacant posts in its first phase, and its board will hold the powers to hire and dismiss staff within the authority. The meeting further reviewed progress on forming the Punjab Film Fund Committee and setting up six specialised sub-committees to oversee different parts of the project.
The revival plan reaches beyond new studios and into the cinemas where audiences actually watch films. The meeting approved plans to restore old cinema halls, fit them with solar power systems and introduce online ticketing, making the experience easier for moviegoers and cheaper to run for owners. Capacity-building training programmes for young filmmakers, led by international experts, will also be launched, giving a new generation of directors, writers and technicians skills that match global standards.
The push follows the Punjab government’s plan to launch a one-dollar cinema project, and Marriyum Aurangzeb said Maryam Nawaz aims to turn Punjab into an international hub for screen tourism within five years. The idea is that productions filmed in the province will also showcase its rich culture and heritage to audiences around the world, turning film sets and locations into attractions in their own right.
If the December 15 opening goes ahead as planned, the film city could mark a genuine turning point for an industry that has long relied on Lahore’s creative talent but lacked the studios, funding and legal protections to match it. A royalty law, a rebate system, trained crews and restored cinemas each address a different weakness, and together they amount to the most complete attempt in years to rebuild Pakistani cinema from the ground up rather than simply announcing another studio. The real test, of course, will come after the ribbon is cut, when filmmakers judge the project not by its launch date but by whether funding arrives on time, locations are easy to book and artists are finally paid what their work is worth.
