No business like show business

WHEN INDEPENDENT FILM-MAKER Ho Yuhang tried to get funding from the National Film Development Corp (Finas) for his 80-minute film Sanctuary, he was unsuccessful.

In fact, he was told that the film, about a Malaysian Chinese girl whose life intersects with two Chinese men, was not multicultural enough to represent Malaysia, and not up to standard.

Sanctuary, however, went on to win special mention at the 9th Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, and has been screened to acclaim at several other foreign film festivals. It also won the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (Netpac) Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January.

Other local movie producers have had similar problems securing much-needed funding from Finas -- the agency tasked with nurturing, promoting and facilitating the development of Malaysia's film industry.

Red Communications Sdn Bhd managing director Lina Tan (left), who is producing Gol & Gincu, says two months after she applied for Finas funding, she was told the fund she applied for had been suspended pending the launch of a new feature films loan scheme.

"I was told to apply again once the new fund was launched," she says. She had to pay RM600 for a script review and provide Finas with various types of documents when applying, hence her frustration at being told to apply all over again.

Despite that, she says she is considering reapplying because she still has a RM300,000 shortfall. "We just hope we can find the money somewhere to finish the film," she says on location for Gol & Gincu in Selangor.

First-time movie maker Deepak Kumaran Menon, who directed Tamil movie Chemman Chaalai (The Gravel Road), did not even approach Finas. "I already knew it would be problematic especially since I was not making a Malay film, and chose to raise the RM150,000 I needed to make the movie on my own," he says.

Sepet director Yasmin Ahmad (right) says she had no problems getting a RM400,000 loan from Finas but she had to wait nearly a year before the total amount was disbursed. In the interim, she says, both her producer and art director sold their cars and she herself used her savings to fund the movie.

After production, Sepet also had to deal with the Film Censorship Board. Yasmin says she had no choice but to agree to the eight cuts by the Censorship Board in order to show her movie locally and to recoup her investments. The movie later showed to packed houses.

"The board may have unintentionally fuelled publicity for Sepet, but I wish they would not keep doing me this favour," she says at the Kuala Lumpur office of Leo Burnett Advertising Sdn Bhd, where she is executive creative director.

The movie -- a love story about a Chinese boy and a Malay girl -- has already won the Best Asean Feature Film at the 9th Malaysian Video Award and last month, won the Grand Prix du Jury Award at the Creteil International Festival of Women's Films in France.

Wake-up call

The rave reviews and overseas support for local films have been a wake-up call for the government. Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim has openly taken the Censorship Board to task, saying that its actions were killing the local film industry.

At the same time, Rais announced a revamp of Finas, following the Cabinet's approval of the National Film Policy in February.

"The lack of inefficiency and transparency in Finas is history. Give this revamp a chance," Rais told reporters on March 16, after launching the agency's new RM50 million Feature Film Loan Scheme at the Finas complex in Ulu Kelang.

Applicants would know within two weeks whether they are successful, and the money would be disbursed within a month of application, he promised.

Finas chairman Datuk Abdul Aziz Rahman, who was appointed last October, tells theSun that the agency will be stepping up its activities to be more market-driven, more approachable and proactive.

Despite these positive announcements and industry players' favourable perception of Abdul Aziz, some local producers and directors are still wondering what kind of support they can expect.

Director Ho (right) says although the government has raised the Finas funding from RM12 million to RM50 million under the new loan scheme, the criteria for securing financing remain the same.

"We still have to pay for a script review and the films must still portray positive values," he says, adding that he has had to rely on funding from Hongkong and France for his films.

Red Communications' Tan says the loan scheme, which is being administered by Bank Pembangunan dan Infrastrucktur Malaysia Bhd, will likely be available only to those who make commercial films.

"But what if it is a non-commercial or arty movie that will do well overseas?" she asks. The new loan scheme also imposes a higher script review fee of RM700, she notes.

Tan also points out that a company is only eligible to apply for the loan scheme if it has a paid-up capital of at least RM300,000. "That's a very high amount for a small company," she says, noting that the amount is far higher than the RM50,000 paid-up capital required by Finas to obtain a production licence.

"Independent film-makers and new people will not be able to apply. They will still have to make it on their own," she surmises.

The fact is, says Kakiseni.com editor Pang Khee Teik, independent directors will fall outside of the market's support system because they do not cater to popular demands for celebrity movies and idealistic romances.

"There is a growing market for independent films that don't just provide escapism into a fantasy world but it will not develop overnight and will require audience exposure," he says.

Film producer and director Shuhaimi Baba says the movie industry is moving really quickly and expertise is needed to support and develop it. "There is a need for a Film Commission which would be made up of professionals administered by the Ministry of Culture. There are limitations when it is just government servants that do this work. The restructuring of Finas should achieve this," she says.

Censorship has also been a hot issue, especially after Yasmin publicised the cuts made to Sepet.

Ho is vehement in questioning the moral authority of the Censorship Board in making decisions on behalf of the public when it decides to censor or ban a film.

"I think the Malaysian audience can handle what we are showing but the Censorship Board decides that we can't," he says.

Four scenes in Ho's short film Anybody Home?, which was part of Visits -- an anthology of four short Chinese horror films -- was censored. One showed a couple, which looked like two men, kissing and another showed a man sniffing women's underwear while masturbating.

"Worst things happen in real life. The media show real-life violence happening all the time and viewers can take it. But who's censoring that?" he argues.

Yasmin says she suspected that some of the scenes in Sepet would be censored, for example, those where the actor uses four letter words. "But I can't keep thinking about censorship when filming. If I am paranoid, many scenes would not have been done," she says.

She expects her next movie Gubra -- which begins with a bilal and his wife who are good friends with prostitutes -- to face problems, too.

It's not just the Censorship Board that film-makers have to deal with.

Metrowealth International Group chief executive officer and movie producer David Teo says that any movie which deals with the police has to first get script approval from Bukit Aman.

"We have to portray the police as always being upright and the police must always triumph over the criminals at the end," he says at his office in Subang Jaya.

Changing attitude

Still, some note a growing openness at the Censorship Board. For example, movie distributors point to the fact that the Keanu Reeves movie Constantine, an occult thriller, was shown in Malaysia while it was banned in Brunei.

Golden Screen Cinemas Sdn Bhd general manager Irving Chee adds that fewer films are banned now.

And Buena Vista Columbia Tristar Films Sdn Bhd general manager Anna Ng says the board is more open to discussion. At the same time, Ng says movie distributors also need to be sensitive.

"Some movies we ourselves automatically reject because we are cognisant of cultural and political sensitivities among both urban and rural viewers," she says.

Shuhaimi adds that while the Censorship Board was cautious about approving her box-office hit Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, it was open to face-to-face discussions.

The movie was the first pontianak film in 30 years because of the restrictions on Malay horror movies but it was approved on condition that the story implied a dream element, was not too scary, gruesome, violent or bloody, deferred to religious sensitivities, and ended with an element of good.

"We decided to go along with the conditions and use the public's reaction to argue our case further," Shuhaimi says. Discussions with the Censorship Board have resulted in Shuhaimi filming the sequel to Pontianak without having to include the dream element.

"This is such a breakthrough," she says, adding, however, that the censors were still unable to clarify why the restrictions only apply to Malay horror films, and not to Chinese, Indian or foreign ones.

Still, movie makers would like to see some other changes take place. "The Censorship Board members should be younger, more film-savvy and more exposed to films from around the world," Yasmin says.

Kakiseni.com's Pang says while the idea of censorship is regressive to him, it would help if the Censorship Board comprised members who recognised the importance of letting artists deal with issues a nation needs to talk about.

"In Australia, for example, funding is given to a movie director who is critical of the government's policies on aborigines. This provides a forum for people to talk about issues and to resolve them," he says.

"We should have a system which encourages people to think for themselves, rather than [one that] does the thinking for them," he adds. 

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