"Asean Region Needs First-Rate Scriptwriters to Make Good Films"

SINGAPORE, May 24 (Bernama) -- Asean countries need to have highly talented scriptwriters who can exceptionally tell stories from this region through films that are of international standard, said Malaysia's Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim. In this regard, he said, Malaysia had proposed at the Meeting of Asean Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) on Thursday, that scriptwriting courses be conducted to produce excellent scriptwriters. "We will train a number of people from Asean countries who will be able to write about stories from the region including on human conflicts in a techically-superior way." He said this to Malaysian journalists after a luncheon following the morning's session of the two-day AMCA meeting held in the island republic beginning Thursday. Rais said one of the identified reasons for the inability of films from Asean countries to compete with those from Hollywood, for instance, was the weak scriptwriting. "Hollywood has been using Asia as their film backdrops and they collect the revenue from these films, while we don't have films which can be sold in the international market at a high price or receive very good response. We don't have outstanding story-tellers." Rais said Malaysia together with Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei had agreed to collaborate in producing highly-skilled scriptwriters of international standing. "Scriptwriting technique is part of the creative industry, which Malaysia will be earnestly follow up to make this a reality and a success," he said, adding that an internal fund would be set up for the purpose. Rais said AMCA would also propose efforts to produce scriptwriters of international standard at its meeting with its dialogue partners, Korea, China and Japan. He cited how the Korean drama and movie industry had developed so fast, with excellent scriptwriting as one of the contributing factors. He said without good scriptwriting skills, Malaysia's film industry would not go far. Rais said Malaysia also proposed that the archives of all Asean countries keep historical documents in formats that can be shared by them. He also conveyed Malaysia's view that Asean's creative industry such as films and digital animation should not forget telling stories about the people's way of life in the region. -- BERNAMA