DR Ahmad Ibrahim, the current chairman of the Film Director’s Association of Malaysia (FDAM) is urging for more “strategic planning” to boost and improve the state of the local film industry.
Malaysia has made considerable strides, specifically in the domain of local blockbusters and animation. In recent years, several standout movies such as 'Polis Evo', 'Munafik', 'Paskal' and the extremely popular animated franchise Upin & Ipin have defied box office expectations, renewing interest in local titles. However, there is still much more that needs to be done.
“Our film industry still lacks vision and is still stuck in the past. Our industry is still in a static state. The revolution and transformation towards digital content is still neglected and there is no holistic change and planning to find a steady and dynamic direction. There needs to be a paradigm shift,” Ibrahim says in an interview with The Vibes.
He points the finger at Finas for falling short of providing a clear vision for the industry, “Finas, as a film development body should be led by a leader who has the vision to initiate strategic planning in the short and long term. This is not happening, because we do not have a leader who is universally inspired."
As Malaysia goes through a changing of the guard under the auspices of a Pakatan Harapan-led government, appointments made under previous administrations are being reevaluated.
Datuk Seri Zurainah Musa, who was appointed as chairman of Finas in June 2022, had her contract terminated alongside eight other board members, including Ahmad himself on December 11, by the newly minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Fahmi Fadzil. A replacement has yet to be named, but according to Finas CEO Dr Md Nasir Ibrahim, Fahmi has several names on hand that he is currently considering for the position.
To that end, Ahmad hopes he will be considered and be given the opportunity to serve in that role.
As the chairman of FDAM, he has outlined several initiatives and programs to take place this year, specifically focusing on visual and digital effects, which he admits is still lagging behind compared to other countries. Ahmad doubled down on the need to create stronger and more sustainable education programs to produce world-class filmmakers.
“FDAM believes in the formation of a sustainable, accredited incubator to produce young filmmakers with universal ideals. This must be done at an early stage, especially for film graduates from universities who are increasing in number but there is no place for them to express their ideas and creativity.
"We need to have specific and comprehensive training for film graduates. We have thousands of graduates in film-related courses, but many change their course to fields they have never studied. This is detrimental to the efforts of the government of the Ministry of Higher Education because time, energy and cost are neglected and wasted,” Ahmad added.
Ahmad hopes to see the emergence of a vigorous film industry that could parallel the national cinema of other Asian countries.
“The local film ecosystem requires critical and analytical thinkers that are geared towards digital content and technology which is the future of the medium,” he said. – The Vibes, January 4, 2023
This interview was translated from the original Malay and edited for clarity and length
