KUALA LUMPUR: Popular director Dr Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri has urged the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) to curb the influx of foreign films of the same genre as local ones currently being screened.
The Anak Perjanjian Syaitan 2 director and former Finas chief executive officer said in an interview with Harian Metro Online yesterday that his latest horror film had to compete with several Indonesian horror films in most major cinemas, and it looked as if the foreign films were out to "kill" his production.
"I am not against foreign films coming into our cinemas, but if there is a Malaysian film of the horror genre being screened it would not be fair to release several Indonesian horrors at the same time.
"The same goes for action movies. If we are having a local horror or action movie in the cinema today, we can have Indonesian romantic movies instead since they are of a different genre," said Ahmad Idham.
Ahmad Idham said that Finas, the Film Censorship Board, film companies and cinema companies should devise strategies that ensure local and foreign films of the same genre did not "clash" in cinemas.
"There should be less foreign horrors in cinemas when a local horror is being shown. These foreign films can have a later release date."