KUALA LUMPUR: The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), which celebrates its 40th anniversary yesterday, will continue to drive and spur the development of national film and creative industry that has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finas chairman Zakaria Abdul Hamid said moving forward, Finas will focus on increasing film and drama production quality, in line with the latest developments, to produce national film products of world-class quality.
“To achieve this agenda, several programmes have been arranged, including human resource programmes, with intensified training and workshop sessions to increase expertise in film related fields and unearth new talent.
“Production companies will be transformed to be more competitive in producing world-standard products that will be well received by the audience and generate lucrative collections at cinemas, thus becoming Finas’ strategic partners for the ‘Road To Oscars’,“ he said when contacted by Bernama yesterday.
He said with such a transformation, production companies need not depend on government aid in the long run as they would obtain huge profits through quality films with blockbuster collections.
Zakaria said Finas has done a lot for the development of the nation’s film industry since its establishment but the current challenge in the Covid-19 pandemic is to ensure the survival of industry players who mostly depend on daily or weekly wages.
“The Movement Control Order has caused many workers to lose their incomes. But the steps taken by the government, through the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM), have turned problems into benefits.
“Since last year, Finas has created a record by issuing more than 300 offers of film, drama and documentary productions, and through this effort, with allocation from KKMM, every production offers job opportunities and income to at least 50 workers,” he said, adding that a total of 15,000 job opportunities were created through this initiative.
During the same period, Finas also organised the Ziarah Finas Prihatin visit, meeting up with over 100 local artistes in a show of appreciation by the government for their contributions.
Meanwhile, Finas chief executive officer Dr Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri said the agency hopes to ensure the continuity, stability and economic viability of the local film industry for the foreseeable future.
The local film industry has developed immensely in the past 40 years and is going strong today, he added.
“This means that the past 40 years proves how strong the local film industry is, that today, if we consider the economic development aspect, a local film can reach RM40 million in collections, while in the past, local films did not receive widespread attention from the public, who were not bothered to watch them in cinemas.
“In addition, we have achieved many other successes including many Malaysian talents who have been successful not only in the local industry, but are sought after in the international market,” he said.
Ahmad Idham added that Finas and industry players in general are very lucky because the government, especially KKMM, shows concern and is constantly providing assistance by introducing various initiatives to help sustain the creative industry.
Finas was officially founded on June 1, 1981, to spearhead the development of the country’s film industry with the government’s aim to develop, preserve and expand the industry.-Bernama
