Kota Kinabalu: The Kota Kinabalu Film and Video Association (KKFVA) hopes that the manifesto of political parties in Sabah in the 15th General Election (GE15) would give attention to the development of the creative industry in Sabah, just like Sarawak.
Its president, Chester Pang said it is time for the political party that will lead the country to pay attention to the development of the digital content industry, such as filmmaking in Sabah, as the industry provides job opportunities, stimulates the local economy, and helps to promote Sabah to the world.
“The filmmaking industry has become much livelier and there are about eight films produced by local producers in Sabah from 2020 until the end of this year,” he said.
“Three of the films have been screened in cinemas nationwide while the other five will be screened at the end of this year or early next year.
“The film ‘Avakas’, directed by Marc Abas, was one of the earliest films screened in cinemas when the country was still engulfed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and from that total, it does not include the production of TV programmes for both local and foreign television stations, which is estimated to exceed 30 contents.”
Pang, who is also the producer of “Craze Below The Wind” said that many of the seniors and friends in the industry have proposed for the establishment, or placed them under an agency or state government body, in hopes of establishing a one-stop centre for industry players to obtain information, related permit and procedures for filming in Sabah.
In addition, the government agency can also coordinate the funds allocated by the Federal Government, especially through the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (K-Komm) and channel it to Sabah’s local producers.
He said, TV Sarawak (TVS), the first state-owned television station under Sarawak Media Group (SMG), a Sarawak government-linked company (GLC) has succeeded in driving the development of the creative industry to the point of attracting the production of a Hollywood feature film “The Edge Of The World”, to shoot in Sarawak with a production expense of RM48 million.
Meanwhile, during the association’s monthly committee meeting, Mohd Hazrien Khamis and Lau Yon Hau were appointed as the new KKFVA committee members for the 2023-2025 term.
Also agreed in the meeting was to organise the third edition of the “Golden Wind Award” short film competition next year after a four-year hiatus.
