How South-east Asia film is measuring up

The coming relaunch of the Singapore International Film Festival and steady expansion of the Luang Prabang Festival in Laos, both of which focus entirely on films from South-east Asia, suggest growing interest in regional cinema.

Thai, Filipino and Singaporean films have scored major festival wins in recent years. Creativity is hardly in short supply, but numerous problems and contradictions await film-makers. Positives include growing economies and improving exhibition infrastructure. Negatives include censorship, a lack of access to capital, narrow distribution channels for independent films and the lack of a regional marketplace.

Thailand, which has by far the most developed film-making infrastructure in the region, is a case in point. The country has soundstages, experienced crews and facilities that service domestic and international shoots. And it is producing world-class cinema: Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul took the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2011 for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. But successive governments have failed to heed clear calls for more structured support of the industry. That has left the sector with just a handful of stable companies and a narrow focus on the most commercial genres.

“Thai films are audience-pleasers, of which we can programme many, without subtitles and in the biggest venues,” said Gabriel Kuperman, director of the Luang Prabang festival in neighboring Laos. But more discerning international audiences have largely spurned Thailand’s garishly commercial output.

That creates a gulf between Thai-funded films made for domestic consumption and those made by local directors who are recognised on the international festival circuit. They include Weerasethakul, whose work is largely funded from Europe, Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Headshot) and Nonzee Nimibutr (Jan Dara).

In the Philippines, the past 12 months have seen two films break the all-time box office record in the country, with last December’s comedy Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy — with takings of around 430 million Philippine pesos (S$12.26 million) — being followed in February by the romantic drama Starting Over Again, which grossed US$11.3 million (S$14.5 million).

“Philippine cinema these days is very much alive in terms of box office and critical success,” said Rico Gonzales, international and local distribution head at ABS-CBN Star Cinema.

Gonzales said diversification had been the key to the recent upsurge. “Even if we present it in the usual popular genre, we try to add something more than the usual, so we can maintain our core audience,” he said.

Also, digital technology has levelled the playing field somewhat, said producer Josabeth Alonso, with more independent pictures entering the market.

The Philippine government has been been making all the right noises about its plans to support the film industry — including tax breaks for productions in the country. But there’s another factor to consider.

“The challenge lies in making people come to cinemas that (not only)show happy-ever-after endings, but which also dare to show something novel onscreen,” said Alonso.

Neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore present mixed pictures. A multiplex building boom in Malaysia coincided with several years of growing local film production. The business got a further boost with the recent opening of the Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios. But after several years of growing audiences for Malaysian films, the trend has recently reversed.

In Singapore, since the Media Development Authority (MDA) was formed in 2003, the numbers the organisation has released have certainly been impressive, given Singapore’s domestic audience. Last year, 10 local films made it to screens, while overall box office takings of S$13 million was a record — and up 10 per cent year on year. But Anthony Chen’s 2013 Camera d’Or-winning Ilo Ilo remains the standard bearer for the industry. It earned US$1.15 million worldwide.

However, the box office market share for local films has rarely gone above 5 per cent. Still, the MDA keeps pushing initiatives such as the Singapore-Malaysia “match-making” seminar it hosted at Cannes this year as it seeks to expand the Singapore industry’s options. It points to the opening of Infinite Studios and the Sandcrawler building, which houses Lucasfilm Singapore, as positive indications.

“It is an exciting time for Singapore,” said Angeline Poh, MDA’s assistant chief executive (Industry). She cited the Singapore Media Festival, which will happen from Dec 4 to 14, as a sign of the industry’s growing importance in Asia. REUTERS