Maybe Hollywood shouldn't be our film industry's ultimate goal

 

I am in the middle of my three-week Global Media Makers film residency programme organised by Film Independent in Los Angeles and sponsored by the United States State Department.

Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea are participating, and all participants were nominated by the respective US embassies in those countries.

The residency focuses on the business side of the film industry, and the objective is to expose us to how the US industry works and, of course, to open up opportunities for any kind of cross-country collaboration.

So far, it has been a pretty good experience. We have had different producers, executives, and showrunners in Los Angeles meeting us and discussing how things work here.

As much as working in or with Hollywood is very appealing, it has also opened my eyes to working in Southeast Asia or even East Asia.

Socialising day in and day out with participants from different countries has made us all realise that, aside from small cultural differences, our overall industries are very similar in the themes and stories we want to tell.

So excuse me if I shift the focus away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and turn the attention to our own backyard.

There is a certain solidarity among developing countries (with the exception of Japan and South Korea, but we do share a continent), and we share our experiences and work with each other.

Red tape and censorship

A common issue we all face is bureaucratic red tape as well as systemic and cultural censorship.

Navigating through political and societal pressure to tell our stories can be tiring and frustrating. That’s without mentioning the endless cycle of scavenging for funding, forcing us to rely heavily on grants and aid money.

All this can leave one feeling isolated, as I’m sure many Malaysian producers, especially the independent ones, suffer all the time.

Being in this residency helps one to feel less isolated, and most of the Global South tends to face the same challenges, albeit to varying degrees. The feeling of solidarity alone can spur and encourage collaborative discussion.

On the flip side...

On the bright side, many participating countries have one thing that Hollywood does not have: government and institutional support.

We have all kinds of government incentives for cross-country collaboration. Tax rebates and incentives are one. Malaysia has very decent tax incentives that encourage foreign productions to shoot in the country.

We also have government-to-government memoranda of understanding with different countries to help the business side when collaborating with foreign partners.

This is something that the US does not have, and we in the Asian region should take full advantage of. Credit should be given when a conducive environment is built and encouraged.

Traditionally, we in Malaysia always tend to look at the West for validation, prestige, or even commercial viability. We rarely look horizontally towards our neighbours in Southeast Asia or the rest of Asia for artistic co-production, narrative exchange or shared advocacy.

It does happen; it just isn’t the norm. So maybe we should actively explore that aspect, like developing things further and fostering true horizontal collaboration.

In addition to the tax incentives, start creating and developing true co-production funds, residency exchange programmes and even festival networks. Start with the low-hanging fruit and create these specifically for the countries in our region.

Let artists make art, not propaganda

What this also means is that our film authorities, like the National Film Development Corporation (Finas), need to look at our film industry and artists as essential and critical intellectuals who can create narratives that provoke and encourage societal and industry development, not as tools for outward nationalistic propaganda or sanitised tourism campaigns.

Trust me, these things will come indirectly in due time.

From my observation, true storytelling strength comes from solidarity and not feeling unseen. When Malaysian filmmakers connect their hyper-local stories to the shared experiences of our neighbours, our films become bolder, less isolated, and genuinely universal.

Build this, and I can almost guarantee that in the long run, our film industry will go places. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit his website to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.