KUALA LUMPUR – Despite facing various challenges, over the past year the local film industry has clawed its way through rough patches to stand out in the international arena. Malaysia has also been touted as an emerging global filmmaking destination.
Recognising this opportunity to catapult Malaysia into the international arena, the present board of the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) wants to ensure that by the time their two-year term comes to an end, the local creative industry is at least on its way to fulfilling its full potential.
The board wants to use film as a platform to develop and promote the creative industry in the country – this includes culture and heritage, music, performing arts, fashion, architecture, and the built environment and archaeology, among others.
In an article published on January 4, Screen Daily, the online home of British film magazine Screen International, touted Malaysia as an emerging filmmaking source.
This is following a string of international accolades bagged by emerging talent in the industry, including at prestigious festivals at Cannes, Venice and Rotterdam.
“… as these and other Malay(sian) filmmakers push boundaries, the world is taking notice,” the article said.
“The idea for Malaysia to develop its creative economy is not new. It has been in discussion since 2005, however little has been done to get it going,” said Finas deputy chairman Noor Azam Shairi.
“However, to do this, the board needs all stakeholders, including relevant government agencies to be on board, and understand and recognise the economic and branding potential that the creative economy brings.”
Finas chairman Datuk Kamil Othman added: “There were many missed opportunities over the years to expand the creative economic sector in the country, but we now have new opportunities up ahead, and with the recognition we have received internationally and the support of the government, it is an opportune time for us to give it our best shot.”
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil is supportive of our efforts to recalibrate Finas and move the film and creative industry forward, he added.
Moving forward
Board member Aidah Ahmad Azmi said Finas wants to take the lead to bring the relevant agencies together to focus on training, development, and exploring growth potential in terms of skills development, job creation, spillover benefits and economic opportunities.
The board, she said, is appointed to set the right vision, direction and strategy, while the management’s role is to execute these.
“Some of the things that Finas can do to move this creative industry forward – first we have to understand the value of the creative industry globally in 2015 alone is US$2.25 trillion (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, Ernst & Young, Unesco. Director-General, 2009-2017),” Aidah said.
“In some countries the value of the creative industries contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is high because of the formula used to calculate the value.
“For Malaysia, we don’t have data that includes GDP, trade balances, employment, and multiplying factors that is calculated against the four main creative pillars (by definition of the United Nations) – functional creation, media, arts and heritage.
“According to definition, the creative industry has to do with functional creation like architecture, built environment, interior design, jewellery design and landscaping among others – and this alone is big. But if you don’t take these figures into account, and you only take into account film and crafts – then you will forever be small,” said Aidah.
Creating high quality content
Finas is also zeroing in on high quality creative content with a focus on developing script writing skills to ensure quality content is produced via compelling storytelling, said another board member Fatimah Abu Bakar.
“The heart and soul of storytelling is in the script so if you come up with a strong script, then 80-90% of your battle is won already, and then you look into training the directors and the actors,” she said, adding that this is the foundation for beautiful and powerful films that will have strong economic value.
Implementation: bringing stakeholders together
The biggest challenge that Finas faces today in terms of implementing its long-term plans is the disconnect between government agencies, which results in current programmes being poorly implemented, thus making the Malaysian film industry less attractive compared to its competitors.
Noor Azam said, for example, a 30% rebate is given to production firms in Malaysia partnering with foreign production houses, but at the same time the tax agency is taxing them in other ways. The tax incentives are thus negated, and become less attractive.
“So, if Finas takes on the role of the driver it has to go down to the ground, meet the agencies involved, renegotiate and explain what the weaknesses are, and ways to resolve the problems. We also need to understand the limitations to be realistic.”
What we are losing from this disconnect and untapped creative industry
Despite growing interest in Malaysian films internationally, we have not done much to tap into this fame, said Kamil.
“This is because, stakeholders still do not see the benefits – that one film has created 500 jobs, that a recent production in Iskandar Malaysia studios may have yielded five underwater cameraman via skills transfer and training, that the exposure to our culture, heritage and locations via movies and series shot in the country are potential tourism attractions and products.”
Then there is the spillover effect including hotel and transport bookings, the transfer of knowledge, technology and skills, Kamil said, adding that the current board plans to recalibrate Finas to address weaknesses and tap into the potential growth areas.
Obstacles, timeframe and continuity
Kamil said it takes time to develop any plan. It took South Korea about two decades to get to where it is today with regards to its cultural content export policy.
“The problems we have are not deliberate problems but systemic problems, and we need to connect the dots, and especially connect all stakeholders.”
Most Finas board members have a tenure of 24 months. After that, there has to be continuity for what has been put in place, he said, adding that the sustainability of plans was important. – April 21, 2024