Out of focus: Malaysia’s Malay film industry in search of quality
Photo: A movie-goer looks at the "Tanda Putera" poster (2nd L) among other movie posters at a cinema in Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur August 29, 2013. "Tanda Putera" was a publicly funded, locally-produced movie that stirred up racial sentiment at a sensitive time over its depiction of the ethnic Chinese minority as the aggressors in the violent events of May 13, 1969. Picture taken August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
In Malaysia, the Malay-language film industry’s scattergun approach is squandering the benefits of incentives and government investment.
The 12-year delay of the release of the movie Dukun due to political and religious sensitivities proved worth the wait for Malaysia’s movie-goers and critics.
Filmed on a budget of 2.8 million Malaysian ringgit ($704,121), Dukun was expensive for a Malay-language film but its 6 million ringgit ($1.5 million) in ticket sales in just four days in April have more than made up for its price tag.
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