PETALING JAYA: The Ministry of Communications and the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) have successfully helped legendary actress Datuk Dr Sarimah Ahmad regain the original tapes of four of her films.
Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching said the original tapes of the films, titled Dia Ibuku, Jejak Bertapak, Kabus Tengah Hari and Detik 12 Malam, were “taken” from her under a screening agreement with a certain party in 1989.
Teo said the company had also handed over copies of the films in the hard disk drive (HDD) format to FINAS for restoration purposes.
“This step also enables copies of the films to be given to Datuk Sarimah as part of efforts to restore the country’s artistic heritage,” she told reporters at the FINAS Ziarah Seni MADANI programme at the actress’s daughter’s residence here today.
Also present were FINAS chief executive officer Datuk Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib and FINAS Industry Affairs, Welfare, and Industry Data Committee Rozaidi Abdul Jamil, as well as Malaysian Artistes’ Association (Karyawan) president Datuk Freddie Fernandez.
Under the FINAS Ziarah Seni MADANI programme, Teo also presented Sarimah with cash donations and basic necessities to ease the burden of the actress who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2022.
She said Sarimah was the first recipient of the donations this year in conjunction with Ramadan and the International Women’s Day celebration.
“We also want to give our highest appreciation and recognition to local artistes and legends such as Sarimah.
“For this year, we are targeting 100 recipients, including those who would receive it in a programme with Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzli later,” she said.
Meanwhile, Azmir Saifuddin explained that discussions to retrieve the original tapes of Sarimah’s films lasted for almost a year before the party involved finally agreed to return them to the actress.
“The original tapes of the films were taken from her through an agreement with one party, which then sold it to another party, but we managed to trace them and held discussions to retrieve them.
“The other party also agreed to hand over the copies of the films and allow the films to be broadcast on RTM with a fee for a year, for example, to be given to Sarimah,” he said.
Prior to this, Sarimah, 83, called on a famous film producer to return the original tapes of four of her films that were “stolen” from her 37 years ago.
