Malaysian Film Industry in Transformation: Challenges and Potential

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges and potentials of the Malaysian film industry from the perspective of the industry players such as filmmakers and producers. Malaysian film industry is a relatively small industry that caters to the need of a population of only about 27.5 millions. In the context of globalization, this small local market presents a challenge for the government in promoting the industry as part of a creative industry with great economic potential. With the influx of films from abroad, especially from Hollywood, the industry is struggling to the hilt to survive, as the bigger portion of the audience prefers Hollywood to local productions. For the government, one way of achieving this is to promote local films at the international level. To understand this situation from inside the industry itself, this paper, using data from in-depth interviews with 10 industry players, discusses the challenges faced by the respondents and how they perceive the potential of Malaysian films to travel globally.

The Interstitial Mode of Sabah Telemovie Production

“…Therefore, Sabahan filmmaker could not compete with the mainstream cinema in Malaysia. As mentioned before, the main audiences in Malaysia belong to the lower and middle-class of Malay ethnicity (Aziz, Hashim, & Ibrahim, 2014).…”

“…Zalipour statement also represents the situation of audiences in Malaysia. According to the study of Malaysian Film Industry in Transformation: Challenges and Potential in 2014, the mainstream audience in Malaysia belong to the lower and middleclass of Malay ethnicity(Aziz, Hashim, & Ibrahim, 2014). This presents a difficult situation for Sabahan filmmaker because their telemovies represent Sabah local culture that is distinct with the culture of mainstream Malaysia.…”

Assessing Malaysia’s Creative Industry: Progress and Policies in the Case of the Film Industry

“…There are several reasons for this, with the issues originating both internally (the local industry's competency) and externally (the competition from foreign players). In the case of the former, the quality of the LFs that are churned out is seen as the problem -this extends to the quality (lack of) of the script, production values, technology and the actors (Aziz et al, 2014) while in the case of the latter, the vastly superior imported films continue to dominate. It does not help that the sector has little restrictions as far as imports are concerned.…”

“…Herwina Rosnan and Zarith Delaila Abdul Aziz (2012) meanwhile, identified several challenges faced by the local FI -these include having a small domestic market (DM), little restrictions in FMs' entrant to the local market (LMA), and also the limited success of indigenous movies locally that eventually hampers any potential success overseas. The issue of having a small LMA is also echoed by Aziz et al (2014), in addition to the country's multi-ethnicity background (which comprises of the Malays 7 , Chinese, Indians, the local indigenous group and other minorities) that further divides the audience into multiple groups -the local working class Malays making the bulk of the audience of the LMs, which itself is largely made up of Malay-language movies. Meanwhile, the issue of different ethnic film-makers, catering to different segments of the market poses another challenge as far as the market size for their movies are concerned.…”

“…Meanwhile, the issue of different ethnic film-makers, catering to different segments of the market poses another challenge as far as the market size for their movies are concerned. While Malaysian Chinese film-makers continue targeting the local Chinese community, the Malaysian Indian film-makers, in contrast, have gone more mainstream, i.e., making Malay language movies to cater to the local Malay market, which itself comprise of lower and middle class Malays (Aziz et al, 2014). This is perhaps unsurprising, given that the less mainstream Indian movies, despite their critical acclaim achievements, generally do not do well in the box-office.…”