Iskandar Malaysia Studios received more foreign filming
CANNES: Iskandar Malaysia Studios (IMS), a major destination for entertainment film production in Southeast Asia, welcomes foreign production companies to increase film production activities in Malaysia.
Its Chief Executive Officer Rashid Karim said, in terms of capacity, IMS is well equipped to run several productions simultaneously.
“For example, we once had a situation of having six customers in the lot at the same time and it was a huge production. So yes, we are ready to increase activity and have a lot of capacity at the moment and hope in the near future we get more demand.
“We have also started initial plans to introduce more facilities than the existing set but more stage space and workshops for example,” he told Malaysian journalists here.
He said IMS had vast land of 20.23 hectares of studio area including 2.43 hectares which had been set aside to build more structures, buildings and sets for customers. Currently about 30 buildings have already been built.
Rashid said Malaysia had incredible potential to be a filming destination as the country had all the basic materials that made it attractive for foreign production companies.
“From a cost standpoint we are very competitive, from an incentive standpoint, we are among the best in the world, from a talent standpoint also I would say we definitely have a growing and very experienced talent base and a dedicated crew.
“In terms of location, I think we have an impressive location especially for productions that require tropical or Asian elements. Locations in Malaysia are generally not only suitable but also a fresh and unique atmosphere,” he added.
Commenting on IMS’s participation in Marche Du Film 2022 here, Rashid said he was happy to be back in Cannes after two years of the film market being done online following the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said it was very difficult to get customer engagement if there was no physical market.
“What we are going to do is to talk and network as much as possible and reintroduce Malaysia to the world. I think this pandemic has to some extent reduced the awareness of Malaysians from the minds of publishers, some of them are not there, there is no huge physical market.
“No big production has come to our country in the last few years because of the pandemic. I think what we need to do is reintroduce the idea, refresh our image with more producers,” he said.
Marche Du Film is the film industry’s largest gathering for producers, financiers, broadcasters, distributors, suppliers and buyers from around the world to meet, share ideas and make deals.
A total of 250 companies from 110 countries participated in the nine -day film market starting May 17.
source – BERNAMA
