The Next Act For Malaysian Cinema: Bigger Audiences, Bolder Ambitions

JAKARTA, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysian cinema has no shortage of stories or creative talent to reach wider audiences through stronger storytelling and regional partnerships despite the challenges of an increasingly competitive film industry.

For veteran Malaysian film producer Lorna Tee, the outlook is promising, particularly as filmmakers explore new collaborations and markets.

However, she said the next chapter of the country's filmmaking journey will depend on understanding audiences, attracting investment and developing stories with wider appeal.

As such, she said Malaysian filmmakers seeking to enter Indonesia's market must develop stories that resonate with audiences across both countries.

“If we want to work with Indonesia and to penetrate the Indonesian market, we need to find ways where the stories and the talents can intersect,” she told Bernama in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the fifth World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) in Jakarta, which she attended as part of Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil's delegation.

Dubbed ‘Asia's Filmmaker Godmother’, Tee, who serves as the Asian Film Alliance Network (AFAN) secretary-general, has spent much of her career nurturing emerging filmmakers and connecting Asian productions with international markets.

Having worked with major film festivals including Berlinale in Germany, CinemAsia in the Netherlands and the International Film Festival & Awards Macao, which she co-founded, Tee believes successful co-productions require clearly defined audiences rather than attempts to combine elements that might appeal to neither market.
“The stories must work organically for the target audience. Don't try to cater to two audiences and end up with a mixture that suits neither Malaysia nor Indonesia,” she said.

Tee said authentic local stories with universal emotional appeal offered the strongest potential for cross-border success.

However, she noted structural differences between the two film industries.

Malaysia’s market is more fragmented across Malay, Chinese and Indian audiences, while Indonesia's larger market was dominated by Indonesian-language productions, with regional films also gaining ground.

Unlike Malaysian producers who often relied on government financing, Indonesian filmmakers generally sought investment and distribution opportunities.

Tee said competition for cinema screens in Indonesia posed another challenge, with the country producing about 300 films annually.

“Even Indonesian films struggle to secure enough screens. It’s not just Malaysian films. Foreign films, including Hollywood productions, face the same problem because there's just a lot of Indonesian films being made,” she said.

Tee said Malaysian films also faced challenges in reaching Indonesian audiences because local actors were less familiar to them, while certain jokes and cultural references might not translate across the border.

“The stories can have a strong local flavour, but the drama and emotional core must be something everyone can understand," she said.

Despite these challenges, Tee, whose producing credits include Rain Dogs, At the End of Daybreak and Indonesia's Postcards from the Zoo, pointed to existing collaborations such as the Malaysian-Indonesian horror film Khadam, directed by Shamyl Othman, as encouraging examples of closer industry ties.

She also highlighted Ratu Melaka, an upcoming Indonesian production involving Malaysia’s Astro Shaw and filmmaker Angga Dwimas Sasongko, which was expected to be released during the Hari Raya period next year.

Tee, who has also mentored filmmakers through international initiatives including the London Film School, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) and Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC), sees talent exchanges and joint story development as important avenues for strengthening regional filmmaking cooperation.
“In the near future, we hope that the producers from both sides can talk more to each other through some programmes organised by two ministries to develop stories together. And in the long term, it's to find ways where policies of the two countries will enable greater regional exchange of our films and series and other content,” she said.

Her remarks followed Fahmi’s four-day working visit to Indonesia, which concluded on Thursday and focused on film co-productions, talent development and a proposed cross-ministerial High-Level Committee (HLC).

During the visit, the minister also discussed Malaysia’s potential as a post-production hub with Netflix representatives, while MyCreative Ventures signed two memoranda of understanding with Indonesian creative industry partners.

Tee welcomed the proposed HLC, but stressed that industry representatives must be involved to ensure practical outcomes.

“If we can have the high-level committees work and execute the ideas that have been done, it would really help towards building the bridge to connect the two countries,” she said.
-- BERNAMA