SAARC developing South Asian cinema
South Asian cinema reaches out to billions of cinema-goers each year. In the past few decades, Asian film industries from South Korea to Bollywood have reached new heights and entered the global industry. However, faced with the difficulty of finding institutional support, other Asian countries such as Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or Bangladesh lag behind lacking the means to unearth new talent, or fund production, promotion, distribution and exhibition of films.
In producing and making a film, many factors have to be taken into consideration such as the training of personnel, financing, distribution and exhibition. Institutional aid is seen to be provided by governmental agencies. However, the question remains as to why a government should be involved in assisting with funds to a commercial enterprise.
A film workshop organised by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Culture Centre in discussing the institutional support for the South Asian Cinema focused on the support that the film industry receives from its country and the difficulties faced in producing a film due to lack of support. Deputy Director (Research) SAARC Cultural Centre, Dr. Sanjay Garg and veteran film director Dr. D.B. Nihalsinghe who gave the keynote address were present. A panel comprising of Professor Chandrasiri Palliyaguru, a retired Professor in Sinhala, Dr. Edwin Ariyadasa, a veteran journalist and Mr. Phillip Cheah, a pioneer in the Singapore Film Festival, were present for the discussion.
The panelists brought forward the conflicts of ‘bureaucrats in business’ where the question was whether governmental officers are able to understand the context of profit making and fully grasp the complexities involved in film-making, financing, distributing and exhibition. The relationship between government aid and cinema in this region has not been a positive one. As Dr. Nihalsinghe said ‘the bureaucrats place obstacles on film-makers to save themselves as they are unable to recognise the risks involved in film-making.’
Dr. Ariyadasa emphasised the importance of ‘building a new generation of cinema.’ He believes that the institutional support for the cinematic industry would be of invaluable support. To build the film culture and reach international standards this support is vital. If the support is received, the nation would be able to build a film tradition and be a part of the world cinematic competition and produce international standard film works and retain faith in the traditional cinema.
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