Film industry gets a shot in the arm

Datuk Yusof Haslam. -Star filepic

TO raise the standard of Malaysian films to international levels, the government is continuing the Film in Malaysia incentive (Fimi).

When tabling Budget 2019, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the government is allocating RM30mil under the scheme.

Producer-director Datuk Yusof Haslam (pic) is glad the incentive is being continued.

“I am thankful to the government for looking out for the film industry in Malaysia,” he said.

Director Adrian Teh, who helmed this year’s hit action-film Paskal The Movie, said he applied for Fimi for several of his projects in the past.

“Some of my submissions were approved and I received the financial assistance for the projects,” said Teh.

Teh added the incentive would help filmmakers financially and improve the production value of their films.

The Finance Minister also announced that Fimi will receive RM100mil from Khazanah for films produced at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Johor.

Teh sees this as a positive move.

“This encourages more filmmakers to use the facilities at Pinewood Studios,” he said.

Teh had used the studios for filming and post-production work before, and will continue to do so for his future projects.

M.S. Prem Nath, who co-directed Rise: Ini Kalilah, said the incentive will attract more foreign film productions to shoot in Malaysia since they would be entitled to the rebates offered by Fimi.

He said this will benefit the film industry as a whole.

“If more foreign companies come here to shoot, there will be employment opportunities for the creative talents in Malaysia.

“We will also be able to learn from their expertise,” said Prem.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh said he is happy that focus has been put on Iskandar Studios as the facility attracts a lot of interest from local filmmakers as well as international players.

“This is a good initiative as it will help strengthen the film industry with the infrastructure that is available there,” he said.