Jailani: Finas gives priority to documentary films

0

THE communication and multimedia ministry gives more priority to documentaries produced by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas).

Deputy Minister Datuk Jailani Johari said local films, especially documentaries, easily earned points and received many awards and recognition at international festivals.

He said this was based on the uniqueness of the theme raised in the film genre such as ‘Among The Great Apes With Michele Yeoh’ which bagged the ‘Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme or Docu-drama, Asian Television Awards 2010’, and the film, ‘Fight Masters Silat’ which received the ‘Best Direction Award’ at the 2010 Asian Television Awards Singapore.

He said the film, ‘Unburying The Past’ also received various awards under the Best Narration by Jury; Best Public Education Value by Jury; Honourable Mention by Jury in Best Film Competition; and, Honourable Mention in Audience Favourite Competition at the Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival in Eugene, Oregon, US this year. Jailani was replying to a question by Hee Loy Sian (PKR-Petaling Jaya Selatan) during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

He said Finas also promoted many local films to participate in several international film festivals such as ‘Muallaf’, which won the Best Director category at the Asia Pacific Film Festival-54 2011.

According to Jailani, Finas provided a Script Development Fund to assist in the production of local films and a total of RM218,000 was approved for this.  — Bernama