Finas Act 1981 amendment, film workers welfare top priority for KKD - Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR - Amendments to the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) Act 1981 and the issue of film industry workers are currently the top priorities for the Communications and Digital Ministry (KKD).

Its minister, Fahmi Fadzil said that the amendment was still being reviewed by his ministry before being brought to the Cabinet.

"I think it won’t be long and we will schedule it to be brought to Parliament (after this),” he told reporters during a townhall session with creative industry players here tonight.

On pirated film sales on e-commerce platforms, he said that it would be referred to the platforms involved for further action.

"I received verbal complaints from publishers or filmmakers alleging that their films had been pirated and sold at a very low price on several e-commerce platforms.

"Tomorrow I will contact the platforms to confirm matters and if it really happened, I will ask them to take immediate action and if not, we will look at existing legal provisions for further action,” Fahmi said.

During the over-three-hour session, issues such as entertainment tax, digital content fund, the Finas Act 1981 amendment, minimum wages for film workers and compulsory screening scheme, were brought up by participants.

During his speech earlier, Fahmi said that his ministry was currently studying what could be done to amend the Finas Act, adding that Finas was also asked to review the mandatory screening scheme to improve it and ensure it can be fully benefited. - BERNAMA