Poor content is why local movies struggle at cinemas, says producer

 

Malaysian cinema-goers are starved of quality local films, says the head of the Malaysian film producers association. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Poor content is the reason local films have short screening runs at cinemas, says a film producer.

The local film industry suffered from substandard content churned out by filmmakers despite the substantial grants they received from Finas, the national film development corporation, said Panchacharam P Nalliah.

Panchacharam, better known as Pansha, said the local film industry’s struggles cannot be attributed solely to the large number of foreign movies being screened at Malaysian cinemas.

He said recent high quality local movies, including Mat Kilau and Polis Evo 3, had done well at the box office despite stiff competition from foreign films.

The two movies, released last year, amassed ticket sales of RM100 million and RM54 million, respectively.

“As a producer, you have to do your research and development to see what the audience wants and give them quality movies,” Pansha told FMT.

“We are exposed today to television, video, and internet streaming services, where we can see all kinds of movies from around the world. Our audience is starved of quality local movies,” he said.

Pansha accused some filmmakers of inflating their budgets when applying for grants then diverting part of the funds for their personal use.

His comments come in the wake of a call by Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid last week that Malaysia should follow South Korea’s approach of limiting the number of foreign films screened in cinemas to boost the local film industry.

She urged Finas to ensure that cinema owners comply with the conditions set out in the agency’s mandatory screening scheme, known as “skim wajib tayang”, which requires cinemas to screen approved Malaysian films continuously for two weeks.

Syerleena said two local films, “Walid” and “Pagari Bulan”, suffered screening cutbacks after only one week, and alleged that cinema operators were flouting the scheme’s conditions.

However, former Finas board member Adam Ham said the scheme allowed cinema operators to scale back the screening of underperforming local films if audiences fell below 30% in the first four days.

He suggested that Finas consider increasing the number of “wajib tayang” slots for local films during peak seasons.

During school holidays, filmmakers of movies for the family and children’s market are always jostling to secure “Wajib Tayang” slots, he said. An increase in the number of slots during these peak periods would give the local film industry a boost. - FMT