28 Feb – Acclaimed director and producer Datuk Yusof Haslam has denied accusations that the Skim Wajib Tayang is biased when it comes to determining the number of screenings for local movies. Yusof Haslam, who is a committee member of the Malaysian Film Producers Association (PFM), together with PFM treasurer Pansha Nalliah, have done their best to defend local movies. According to Yusof, the issue started with Ahmad Idham and he asks the director to be patient because the scheme will never stop giving its best for all locally produced movies.
"Sometimes, exhibitors would only give between 10 to 20 cinema halls but we will force them to increase that number to 25 until 40 cinema halls depending on availability. "If the movie gets high demands from fans, the exhibitors will add more cinema halls and its showtimes without question," he said, according to Harian Metro. Besides that, Yusof also asks small-time producers to ensure that their movies have production values that are on a par with other movies overseas. Before this, Ahmad Idham voiced out his disappointments when his latest movie "Hantu Wangan" was only given 29 halls to screen this 22 March. Ahmad also claimed that the scheme was not as valiant in fighting for small publishers, who often face issues of fewer amounts of cinema halls screening their movies. Hopefully, the scheme and producers can figure out a solution to this issue together so that it will help the local film industry. (Photo source: BH Online)