KUALA LUMPUR: While films in foreign languages are accepted worldwide and nominated at the Oscars for some time now, language barrier is still plaguing the local film industry, especially when it comes to the Malay and Chinese movies.
"In all honesty, while Chinese people don't go and watch Malay movies at the cinemas, the same can be said for the Malays," lamented film producer and founder of Lomo Pictures Aron Koh in a news report yesterday.
"Even when a local film has both languages or multiple languages even, it never worked too. If this continues, our film industry will never get out of this rut," said the 42-year-old who is also vice president of Chinese Film Association of Malaysia.
Koh believes when a good film is produced regardless of the language, it should attract filmgoers especially now when many are watching a number of foreign films on various streaming platforms.
"Just look at how South Korean productions have taken the world. Not everyone speaks Korean, but we flock to the cinemas and stream their films all the time," he explained.
Koh is hopeful Malaysian filmgoers will give local productions the same opportunity too.
Meanwhile, he also expressed his disappointment that only films opened in cinemas could compete in the coming 31st Malaysian Film Festival (FFM31).
"I'm upset with the organisers, the Malaysian Film Development Corporation (Finas).
"What with the closure of cinemas for almost two years due to the pandemic, how is this requirement still valid at the moment?
"If the Academy Awards can consider nominations for those only screened on Netflix, why can't Finas relax the ruling a bit?" said Koh at the launch of his book titled Zoom In: The Untold Story of Malaysian Filmaking recently.