Finas to investigate allegations of cartel in film industry

Finas, the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia, is set to investigate allegations of a cartel and market dominance within the local film industry. CEO Datuk Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib stated that while no official complaints have been received yet, the organization is taking proactive steps to gather information and understand the situation.

The main concern is not merely about a single distributor dominating the market, but also the possibility of an entity being involved at various levels of the industry chain as a distributor, publisher, and cinema owner. Finas has received a notification from a local Tamil film producer regarding a last-minute entry of an Indian film, which allegedly disrupted the producer's screening schedule.

In response, Finas is examining mechanisms to require advance notification for the entry of international films, similar to the approach in Singapore. The investigation aims to protect domestic films in all languages from facing competition with foreign films targeting the same audience.

Brief written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.