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 Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.
In this regard, he said, Malaysia had proposed at the Meeting of Asean
Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) today 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 from
today.
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.
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"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.
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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keep historical documents in formats that can be shared by them.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
MHI MHI MO