In 2007, almost everybody in the Malaysian film industry had something to rejoice about. But a big divide still exists in the country’s movie world. On one side, there’s the mainstream industry, which shoots films targeted at the domestic market exclusively in Malay language. On the other side, there’s the indie scene, made up of filmmakers mostly shooting films on digital and in Chinese, whose works have acquired some prestige at international film festivals recently. This clear-cut separation mirrors the tense undercurrents that lie beneath Malaysian society as a whole.
The statistics released by FINAS, the government body in charge of the support and promotion of national cinema, reveal that 2007 was a year of undisputed growth. The total number of viewers in Malaysian theaters increased to 33.6 million from 27.9 in 2007. That’s an increase of more than 20%: in 2004, the cumulative number of viewers was just 16.7 million. Box office receipts rose from 234,98 million ringgit (about US$73,670,000) in 2006 to 289,31 (roughly US$90,700,000). Undoubtedly, this growth was connected to a further expansion of multiplexes in the country, as the number of movie theatres grew from 68 in 2006 to 76 in 2007. The number of screens grew from 287 to 353 and the total number of seats available from 66,822 to 78,496.
The quantitative growth in audiences and box office receipts, however, seems to have benefited Hollywood films rather than local ones. Films in English raked-up almost 70% of the overall market share, up from 60% in 2006. Films in the Malay language (FINAS’s data files films according to their language) slightly increased their overall receipts, but their market share dropped to less than 10.4%, against figures of more than 12% in 2005 and 2006, and around 20% in 2003 and 2004. Films in Chinese collapsed from an almost 17% share of receipts in 2006 to less than 10% in 2007 -- perhaps a signal of Malaysian audiences’ disaffection towards Hong Kong productions -- while those in the Tamil language maintained a percentage of less than 5%.
Despite this, the industry still felt hopeful, thanks to some positive signs. The number of Malaysian films released in theatres in 2007 was equal to 2006. Twenty-eight films were released, of which twenty-one were in the Malay language. Out of the remaining seven digital films, six were in Chinese and one in Tamil. In 2008, the number of films released might even increase. The biggest Malay language film in 2007 was the horror Jangan Pandang Belakang (Don’t Look Back), by prolific director Ahmad Idham. It raked-up almost six million ringgit, and became the biggest national hit since 2001. Together with 2006’s Cicak Man -- a fantastic comedy starring the hugely popular comedian Saiful Apek, which grossed more than five million ringgit – it proved to the industry that Malay audiences still crave local entertainment. But there were some flops like Diva, a failed attempt to inject Bollywood styles into a Malaysian context, and, most of all, the hugely publicised historical mammoth 1957: Hati Malaya by Shuhaimi Baba. This production, which was subsidised by the government to celebrate Malaysia’s fiftieth anniversary, cost more than three million ringgit. But it wound up grossing just a little more than 300,000 ringgit.
Still, there were quiet a few films that did make a profit: Mamat Khalid’s horror comedy Zombi Kampung Pisang, two Saiful Apek vehicles, Otai and Nana Tanjung 2, Ahmad Idham’s car actioner Impak Maksima, and Yasmin Ahmad’s Mukhsin. The latter, with a two million ringgit box office take, was a landmark success for an independent film. Despite its commercial success and the awards received at Berlin Film Festival, Yasmin Ahmad’s film was almost completely ignored by the nominations at the Festival Filem Malaysia, which took place in July in Penang. The official awards of the Malaysian film industry crowned the very decent Cinta by Kabir Bhatia, a sort of Kuala Lumpur-set rereading of Love Actually, released in 2006. But the list of nominations for best film included such questionable artistic achievements as Ahmad Idham’s Tentang Bulan, Oliver Knott’s The Red Kebaya and Shuhaimi Baba’s Waris Jari Hantu. Another independent film, Zarina Abdullah’s Chermin (which had its international premiere at FEFF 2007), despite a being nominated in most categories, went home with a just special award for best debut. Such results confirm a protectionist stance in the mainstream Malay industry.
In order to have a film production supported with money from the state and FINAS, and in order to benefit from the tax rebates granted to national films, a film has to be mainly shot in the Malay language (bahasa Malaysia). This policy of linguistic protectionism goes against the multi-ethnic reality of a country where 25% of the population are of Chinese ethnicity, and another 7% are of Indian descent, mostly Tamil. Films in these languages, which are usually digital, aren’t entitled to funding from the State, and are treated like Hollywood blockbusters when it comes to taxes -- even though they can only rely on a circuit of only four theatres equipped for digital projections (three in Kuala Lumpur and one in Penang).
In terms of recognition at international film festivals, 2007 was a landmark year for these filmmakers treated as “strangers in their own country”. After winning the New Currents Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2006, Tan Chui Mui’s Love Conquers All at the beginning of 2007 also won a Tiger Award in Rotterdam. In February, at the Berlin Film Festival, Yasmin Ahmad’s Mukhsin won the Special Jury Prize in the Generations section, while Amir Muhammad’s Apa Khabar Orang Kampung? screened to great acclaim in the Forum. This film was soon banned by the censorship board in Kuala Lumpur, as it tackles a taboo subject in Malaysia -- the history of the communist party in the country. In July, Before We Fall in Love Again by James Lee won the Best South East Asian award in Bangkok, while Mukhsin collected a similar kudos in Manila in August. Then, in October, the debut feature by Liew Seng Tat, Flower In The Pocket won the New Currents Award in Pusan, beginning an impressive series of wins for Liew. Flower in the Pocket won a Tiger Award in Rotterdam 2008 and the Regard d’Or in Fribourg 2008. In What City Does It Live?, Liew’s new script, received Rotterdam’s Prince Claus Fund Film Grant for the best project in development.
Apart from Mukhsin, which is shot in Malay, all of these films remain relatively unseen in Malaysia. Box office receipts are, at the very best, approximately 10,000 ringgit. The feeling is that audiences need to be exposed to more films to educate them. Only that way will these independent films be appreciated at home. But if Malaysian distributors refuse to buy films like Stephen Frears’ The Queen, because they regard them as too difficult for local audiences, and if the highly pretentious first Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival features films like Spider Man 3 and Transformers, how can one expect audiences in Kuala Lumpur to flock to see the demanding films of Tan or Lee?
Paolo Bertolin