MINISTRY TO CONVINCE BANKS FILM INDUSTRY LUCRATIVE

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 (Bernama) -- The Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage
Ministry will convince all banks in the country that the local film industry can
bring lucrative returns if the products go international.

Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal said Malaysian films would surely penetrate the
international market if there were sufficient monetary resources.

"If we can be succesfull internationally, surely businesses in the industry
can bring huge returns," he told reporters at the National Film Development
Corporation here Wednesday night.

He also said the ministry was studying ways to ensure more effective
filmmaking management and would bring it up to the banks so that the cost of
film production could be reduced.

Bank loans were necessary because the government's RM50 million (US$13.8
million) allocation for the local film industry was not enough, he said.
-- BERNAMA