Cicak di Brunei dan Cicak di KL sama saja, memang meletop! Assalammualaikum and WASSUP from Brunei!!

Yes it is true, i am doing my fair share of travelling these days as the completion of Sumolah draws nearer. I am currently in the SKY LOUNGE of the Bandar Seri Bagawan Airport waiting for my flight to Kota Kinabalu to pick up my kids who i miss so sorely. I miss them so much that it feels like i have been missing an internal organ which helps me breathe easier and a part of my heart which makes me whole.

I have been here for a show for Brunei Shell Marketing department but i received news that CICAKMAN is da bomb back home. This is so awesome. I saw the movie last week and told Yusry that he had done something really imressive for the Local Film industry and believed that it will do well. I am not saying that the movie was perfect ( my movies aren't perfect either) i did have some issues with the quality of acting in the film (AC, my friend, but in cicakman his characterisation was sadly annoying. Fasha Sandha i felt was horrendous in this one. Aznil irritated the hell out of me) but understandably Yusry is a technical director as opposed to an actor's director but looking at the bigger picture, this movie was outstanding for what it is, the first truly local CGI fest! and it really breathes the slogan NEW ERA FOR MALAY MOVIES and i personally believe it will be a hit with kids and malaysians in general.

Word on the grapevine is that CINTA is also a big hit in the country and this makes me really glad to know that the industry is alive and well and the support for it is forever growing.For your info Cinta is directed by Khabir Bahtia an excellent Indian Director who has now made malaysia his home. We worked as co-directors on my talkshow BILA LARUT MALAM before and am so glad that he has finally made a cinema feature. This has made so excited to come back and play.

If you ask me, the only way to experience a movie is through the big screen unless you have a kick ass hometheatre system that is. Still there is no substitute for going to the movies and sharing a couple of hours with a few hundred people, going an a similar journey with them, feeling the same feelings as them. I don't know if you realise this but for those few hours we as a people collectively through our minds have become one and is sharing one experience. freaky shit.

Thanks to all of you who have been supporting us in the film industry and your continued support i believe, is starting to pay dividends in the form of BETTER MALAYSIAN movies coming out. Although there will still be some crappy ones,good is starting to overpower evil. Let market forces rule their fate as it is the great equilizer and the key to weeding out serious karyawans from the, come to play-play and make fast buck types.

The new FINAS wajib tayang rule however is not helping independent producers, it is destructive and needs to be reviewed. Increase the number of theatres for malaysian movies since there is a surge of them, insteat of cutting the time one movie is shown before the next wajib tayang movie is shown. Currently one malay movie a week is the wajib tayang practice. How the hell are malay movies suppose to make their money back in such a short time. To help the industry, the government should by law encourage the exhibitors to do like the Thais and Koreans, increase the number of cinemas for local movies. For example, If an exhibitor has 11 theatres per cinema chain make 5 halls available for local movies and 6 for international releases. Can Malaysian Movies sustain the numbers to keep four theatres open, with your ongoing support and current market trends, the answer is HELL YES! Or the way the government can help is do like what the indonesian government used to do, BAN all international films from releasing in their country and maybe then we can finally see how much money local movies can really make. We don't want to go to that extreme, but those are steps which will move in favour of local filmmakers rather than always making us take whatever scraps that the exhibitors will give us. Something drastic needs to be done to sustain this malaysian movie boom and to further excite more Malaysians to watch more Malaysian products. That will encourage better quality products to come out because there will be more money in the industry. Who knows, the second coming of the Golden era of local films might be right upon us.

Trust me luke, for i am your father.


power to the people
Afdlin