PETALING JAYA: Accusing Finas, the national film development corporation, of failing to help local talents gain international recognition, the Malaysian artistes association, or Seniman, has called for its revamp.
Seniman president Rozaidi Jamil claimed that, among other faults, Finas did not send local actors to international film festivals to help build their reputation.
“Finas took our films to these festivals but our talents were not taken along for international exposure. Apart from relying on social media, how else can they gain recognition?” he asked.
Rozaidi also doubted Finas CEO Nasir Ibrahim’s ability to lead the film body, saying Nasir had visited many international film festivals but failed to convince foreign film makers to shoot in Malaysia.
He told FMT former Finas chairman, Zakaria Abdul Hamid, had coined the “Road to Oscar” plan to promote Malaysian talents and films internationally.
One initiative under this plan was the Filming in Malaysia Incentive (Fimi) with a 30% rebate on expenditure for producing films here. However, he said, this initiative was not being promoted anymore.
Rozaidi claimed the plan to develop more talents like Michelle Yeoh would fail if Nasir remained at Finas, saying the CEO’s main role was to ensure plans such as the “Road to Oscar” would be realised.
Yeoh is the first Malaysian to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress and to be nominated for the best actress Oscar.
“Hence, we call on communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil to appoint capable individuals to the Finas board to ensure the Road to Oscar plan becomes a reality.”
Meanwhile, writer and director Al Jafree Yusop said talents like Yeoh found opportunities abroad because Hollywood was the only place to gain international recognition, just as actors Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat had found fame in Hollywood.
“But they (Chan and Chow) starred in great local movies first, which helped them become recognised in Hollywood,” Jafree said.
He said the problem with Finas was that it often stuck to its “comfort zone”, which deterred it from improving in terms of its direction. He agreed that it needed to be revamped for the local industry to produce better movies.
“When it comes to movies, Finas plays a key role. It needs to be revamped for the industry to grow.”
Jafree said an “ecosystem for talent and technology exchange” needed to be established by attracting more foreign filmmakers to Malaysia, and that Finas should lead this initiative.
He then gave the example of director Peter Jackson, who is from New Zealand.
“He established the Weta Digital studio in New Zealand when he was shooting Lord of the Rings there. The local talents learnt a lot about visual effects from there, enabling other New Zealand filmmakers to produce better movies too,” Jafree said.
Earlier this week Fahmi said he planned to nurture more talents in the local entertainment industry, lamenting that Malaysia missed the opportunity to tap into Yeoh’s talents while she was still in the country.
