In previous two articles (Part I / Part II), I have told you my opinions on why the growth of Malaysian movies is stunted despite years-long development. The separation along ethnic lines splits the local film industry into parts. Also, the “overlocalisation” in films dilute and simplify the complexity and multiplicity of Malaysian socioculture. And today, we will discuss about the third reason. Here we go.
Lack of concern and support
Do you know that there are numbers of local films receiving awards in international film festivals? Let’s take the film, “Seman: A Lost Hero” produced by Mansor bin Puteh in 1988 as an example. Being a unique filmmaker in that conservative era, his film broke the traditional chronological way of narration and was awarded as the Best Film in the 1990 Figueira da Foz International Film Festival. However, the film could not get the permit from FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia) to be screened in Malaysian cinemas. It is a loss if a high-quality local film could not be screened in our cinemas, said by Jacky Yeap, the founder of a local movie magazine Wu Ben. Yeap added that this is because the audiences of film festivals and cinemas are very different. For instance, people who watch commercial movies at cinemas would rarely attend film festivals to watch films. Hence, it is really a great loss for us as the audience to not given the chance to enjoy the awarded films.
Besides not having enough support from the government, Malaysian filmmakers also find it hard to impress the local investors. Tan Seng Kiat, the director of Shuttle Life, said in an interview that the ways locals and foreigners look at films are very different. He used his personal experience to evaluate the thought: When he submitted his film idea for project pitches in international film festivals, he found the people there are more open to accept a diversity of themes and listen to the voices of filmmakers. However, there is a big contrast in our country. In Malaysia, most of the people judge his artworks from a materialistic point of view. To them, the most important considerations are how well the films sell and who the actors are. The locals do not really appreciate the meaning of the artworks.
Local movies do not receive much attention from the public, as compared with the foreign blockbuster movies which always bring a mile-long queue at cinemas. According to the cinema admission report by FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia), the total admission of local films in 2018 was only 13.21 million ringgit compared with English films admission which reached 51.76 million ringgit. This phenomenon is also shown in the result of survey I conducted. Most of the respondents said they prefer watching foreign movies to local ones. A noteworthy result is that none of the respondents said they prefer local movies to foreign ones. Regarding the reasons why they prefer watching foreign movies, the respondents replied that foreign films deliver more interesting stories with amazing cinematography and fantastic special effects. But is that comparison true and fair? Don’t we have high-quality local films? Yeah, we have. But most of the Malaysians do not know. We have shaped a stereotype or even a negative perception on our local productions. I also personally thought that Malaysian movie productions are not so professional. But I found that I were wrong. Our local productions have been more and more mature no matter in shooting techniques, visual or sound effects. Perhaps, this is the time for us to throw away our stereotype and try to appreciate the beauty of local films.
In summary, local films are lack of support from the government, investors and most importantly, the audience. We have to show our concern and support if we would like to see improvement and development in our local films. How can we show our support? The easiest but also the best way is to just buy a ticket, enter the cinema and watch a local film.
Overall, this and the previous two blog posts have told you the three main problems I found in the local movie industry. Well, I understand that my opinions cannot be considered professional because I am just a student. However, I believe that as an audience, my opinion would be helpful for the filmmakers. Hopefully this will help the local filmmakers to identify their shortcomings and understand the local’s, especially we, the young generation’s movie preference. What do you think are the other reasons that hinder the growth of local film industry? Please leave your comments below to tell me your opinion.
References
FINAS. (2019, April 3). Data of cinema admission by language. Retrieved October 20,
2019, from https://www.finas.gov.my/en/industry-information/cinema-admission-
by-language/
Lee, A. (2018, October). He is walking on a tightrope: Movie director Tan Seng Kiat.
Wu Ben, 1, 34-43.
Schavemaker, P. (2017, January 11). 70 years of Malaysian animation: Interview with Hassan Abd. Muthalib. Zippy Frames. Retrieved 30 December, 2019, from
https://www.zippyframes.com/index.php/interviews/70-years-of-malaysian- animation-interview-with-hassan-abd-muthalib
Yeap, J. (2019, August). The local director Mansor Puteh and the movie “SEMAN”. Wu Ben, 2, 8-11.
Yeoh, A. (2017, October 3). Malaysian film Shuttle Life nominated for Golden Horse.
Asia One. Retrieved 30 December, 2019, from https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/malaysian-film-shuttle-life-nominated- golden-horse
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