‘Come together’ to make Sarawak’s film industry a blockbuster

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Sazali (left) and company manager (documentary film production) Mohamad Rashid Abd Rahim (centre) acting nonchalant while being filmed.

KUCHING: Local film production companies have to work together to build Sarawak’s film industry.

Executive chairman of Sarawak-based production house, Broad Vision Solutions, Sazali Abdul Rahman, was excited and eager to meet members of the film fraternity gathering at the Asean International Film Festival and Awards (Aiffa) 2015 here which started yesterday.

“This is a great platform for us to introduce ourselves, promote local talents and showcase our works to the world,” he said when met at the Aiffa Film Biz World Seminar and Exhibition held at the Sarawak Tourism Complex in the Old Courthouse here yesterday.

“We also hope to take this opportunity to seek collaborations with production companies from Asean countries like Indonesia and to let them know what we and Sarawak have to offer and vice-versa,” he added.

On development of the film industry in Sarawak, Sazali said there were always opportunities but the lack of initiatives had somewhat limited its expansion.

“That is why we are trying to gather all local film production houses to work together to build the industry for Sarawak, in particular.

“Support from the government and relevant organisations are also important because this is a challenging, yet interesting industry,” he said.

Broad Vision Solutions started three years ago with its head office in Miri and is now looking to set up an office in Kuching.

“Our business covers four major areas namely film production including documentary and corporate videos, event management, digital advertising and creative designs.

“We started in Kuala Lumpur and we are now hoping to explore more markets in Kuching especially in film production,” he said.

Sazali revealed that the company had submitted 13 telemovie titles but RTM approved 10.

“Everything is ready and we are just waiting for the official letters in order to start shooting telemovies for RTM,” he said.

Sazali added that low awareness about the film industry here was the main challenge in developing the industry in Sarawak.

“So we are working with National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) to organise a series of workshops on scriptwriting, filming techniques, acting and others related to the film industry in order to groom more talents,” he added.