The battle continues over film distribution
The tussle over film distribution in Sri Lanka has been continuing for the third week as the National Film Corporation backed by the Minister in charge and a large number of artistes have launched a battle to take over the distribution rights from the four distribution companies.
Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, NFC Chairman Sithendra Senaratne and other film artistes who vowed to take over the fllm distribution
The Minister in charge of cinema, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, National Film Corporation Chairman Sithendra Senaratne and some leading artistes said that it was important to take over film distribution rights under the National Film Corporation (NFC) in order to stop the dictatorial monopoly of the film distributors.
Minister Rajapakshe said this to the media highlighting that the taking over of the film distribution rights was only the first step in reviving Sri Lankan cinema.
Minister Rajapakshe told the media on June 29, that the taking over of the distribution rights was legal and his intention was to introduce a legitimate system to distribute film to theatres. The artistes including who supported this move claimed that, under the existing system, imported foreign films are given priority over Sri Lankan films and this had led to a long queue of over 80 films being held up for years.
However the decision taken by the Minister on June 19 has been challenged by five film distributing companies on June 28 and they had obtained a stay order from the Colombo District court preventing NFC taking over the film distribution rights from private sector.
The four film distributing companies–Lanka Film Distributors Ltd. (LFD), E.A.P. Films and Theatres Ltd. (EAP), Movie Producers and Importers Ltd. (MPI) and Cinema Entertainment Ltd. (CEL)–on Wednesday (4) complained that taking over the film distribution overnight was unfair and they were ready discuss the matter with the NFC and other parties to come to a settlement on the issue.
“We do not want to fight with the Corporation, the Minister or anyone else. We just want a fair system,” Sunil T. Fernando, film producer, distributor and exhibitor told the media.
Filmmaker Parakrama Jayasinghe who had been invited by the film distributors to talk about the issue, said that the shortcomings in the film distribution systems also led to this situation. “Film exhibitors did not attend the needs of the patrons. Some film halls were stinking with the smell of lavatories. The standards of the screens and the sounds system were poor,” he complained. However, he admitted, the distributors supported the filmmakers and made their payments on time and there somewhat better system.
“The system has to be continued with the shortcomings rectified,” Mr. Jayasinghe said.
Several filmmakers and producers also spoke on behalf of the distributors and said they were not sure whether there would be a proper payment system and other facilities under state run NFC.
Filmmaker Parakrama Jayasinghe
Film distributors continuing their protest over NFC taking over film distriution rights
