Malaysia Builds Asian Hub for Digital and Broadcast Content Development

CANNES, France, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Malaysia is poised to take the lead as the creative and content hub for South East Asia, having invested significantly in up-skilling local talents and facilitating state-of-the-art production facilities that are now attracting globally-recognised production companies here as a preferred locale.

The two-pronged strategy of providing attractive government assistance and rewarding private investment has reaped significant results as export of content produced in Malaysia has almost doubled in value over the past 24 months.

Speaking at the MIPTV in Cannes, Chairman of FINAS, Datuk Haji Md. Afendi Datuk Haji Hamdan, said that the government is investing significantly in creative multimedia infrastructure as seen through the recent opening of the US$120 million Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios which is the region's largest independent integrated studio facility. This is in addition to the renowned KRU Studios in Cyberjaya, which has a strong track record of producing internationally-acclaimed content and will be premiering its recent production Ribbit a 3D animated comedy story starring an internationally renowned cast (Tim Curry, Russell Peters & Sean Astin) at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

The value chain extends downstream, where Malaysia is recognised as providing cutting-edge technologies at a fraction of international costs, and offering high-technology film and television studios that include 3D animation and documentary productions. The visually-pleasing and vibrant shooting locations are another significant attraction, thanks to Malaysia's cultural richness and heritage. These are strong pull factors that are encouraging international buyers, investors and co-production partners to expand its endeavours in Malaysia.

"Earlier last year, we launched the Film in Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) which provides local and foreign producers a 30 per cent rebate on audited in-country spend. We are proud to say that we have exceeded our target of USD 30.6 million as we achieved USD 45.4million of the total estimated FIMI incentive value by end 2013".

FIMI has attracted both local and foreign productions in the recent times, including four local projects and six foreign productions that are currently taking place.

"Exports of film content, television programmes, and animation has grown from more than USD100 million to over USD155 million in 2012, which proves our success in expanding our horizon of creative content development, particularly in 3D animation and other forms of digital interactive content," he added.

In addition, Malaysia's local talents are recognised for their skills and creativity internationally as seen over the years with Oscar winning Life of Pi, War of the Worlds which won the Best 3D Animated Feature Film at the Los Angeles 3D Film Festival, Bollywood blockbusters Don and Enthiran among others.

Explaining its offerings at the largest television content trade forum the 2014 Marche International de Programmes de Television (MIPTV), Datuk Haji Md. Afendi Datuk Haji Hamdan said that Malaysia brought together 19 delegates who are showcasing their exceptional creative content at the Malaysian pavilion themed 'Moving Forward, Exploring Opportunities'.

This year, Malaysia is featuring original content ranging from animation, drama and documentary film producers to an international list of buyers and distributors.

"We have ensured that strategic initiatives are in place to empower the local talent to grow the industry and support foreign productions. Thus, we are actively organising events and working closely with Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia to turn the creative multimedia industry into one of the main engines of growth for Malaysia by engaging creative multimedia companies and individuals to spearhead the use of digital technologies to produce top quality creative content for the world," said Datuk Afendi.

For more information or to get updates on Malaysia's participation at MIPTV, please visit www.malaysia.my/miptv

About FINAS National Film Development Corporation Malayisa (FINAS) is Malaysia's leading film agency and authority entrusted with the responsibility of developing the film industry. Established in 1981, it is a statutory agency under the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture (MOICC). FINAS is responsible to promote, preserve and facilitate the development of the film industry in Malaysia. FINAS is the first point of contact that provides information, advice, support services and incentives for creative content production in Malaysia. FINAS is also the agency that facilitates all foreign film production work in Malaysia.

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SOURCE FINAS