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Comment by 文創 庫 on September 21, 2022 at 1:31pm

Cindy Yeap·Harnessing the economic benefits of the creative content industry

MALAYSIA will be stepping up the promotion of its creative content industry as “one of the hard areas of economic growth”, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah told participants at an online forum on Oct 26 to mark the country’s adoption of the United Nations International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021.

He revealed that he and Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri had just co-chaired the National Creative Economy Council a fortnight ago and discussed funding issues for the creative industry and even having something like “a road [map] to the Oscars”. 

Presumably, he was using the Oscars merely as a symbol of the government’s desire to support the creation of more great Malaysian content for a global audience. After all, insiders familiar with awards politics say winning an Oscar has more to do with [the potentially very expensive affair of] selling the movie well to Academy voters in Hollywood rather than making an outstanding movie or supporting the idealistic souls in the creative arts.

Malaysian companies forging sustainability-driven practices 

For companies with sizeable environmental footprint, could financial incentives be offered in exchange for less emissions, consumption and waste?

It is also in line with the renewed hope of Asian content and narrative garnering greater acceptance among a global audience, after South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite made history in February as the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Parasite was also the first South Korean film to receive the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

 

Optimism aside, industry insiders say the win was decades in the making. Behind Parasite’s big win is 61-year-old Miky Lee Mie-kyung, vice-chair of Korean conglomerate CJ Group, who is seen as the “godmother” of South Korea’s film industry and credited with playing a crucial role in promoting the Hallyu (Korean cultural) wave. A regular consumer of South Korean exports may recognise the CJ brand of consumer goods as well as CJ E&M Co’s TV channels TVN, TVN Movies and OCN, and the annual Korean wave convention (KCON) that it has organised in Los Angeles and multiple locations across the globe since 2012. CJ’s bakery franchise Tous Les Jours shuttered its Malaysian outlets in 2017 and recently sold its 50% stake in home shopping venture CJ Wow Shop, to make it wholly-owned by Media Prima Bhd.

A granddaughter of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul (Miky is cousin to Samsung Electronics heir apparent Lee Jae-yong), Miky was an early investor in DreamWorks SKG (whose founders include Steven Spielberg) in 1995. The US$300 million deal reportedly gave CJ the film studio’s Asian distribution rights as well as access for her Korean filmmakers to study under DreamWorks.

Industry stimulus 

In his opening address at the Creative Economy 2021 Forum held in early October in conjunction with Budget 2021, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz cited the success of South Korea’s film and music industry in boosting tourism as well as the country’s exports of consumer goods and services. He said players in the creative arts scene “should not see themselves in isolation” but position themselves to become “substantial and sustainable contributors” to the nation’s economy and high-growth sectors like science and innovation. After all, part of what makes Apple or Samsung phones a worldwide success is their design. 

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 21, 2022 at 1:29pm

There’s certainly ample room to grow the industry’s contribution to Malaysia’s economic growth. As it is, the creative industry contributes around 2% of Malaysia GDP, makes up 0.2% of exports and employs about one million people, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin told participants at the Creative Economy 2021 Forum. 

Noting that the promotion of the creative industry and entrepreneurs was mentioned in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016 to 2020), Saifuddin said efforts to leverage the country’s rich cultural heritage in promoting sustainable development would continue to feature in the 12th Malaysia Plan to be tabled in January 2021. “We’re committed to building a better ecosystem … the models can be borrowed from countries like South Korea, the ideas are there ... it is about working together and getting things done, putting everyone on the same platform.”

It remains to be seen if the creative economy will feature prominently in Budget 2021, which is set to be tabled in parliament this Friday (Nov 6). To help the industry amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the government allocated RM225 million for the arts, culture, entertainment and events industry under the RM35 billion Penjana (Short-term Economic Recovery Plan) announced on June 5. That includes RM100 million in soft loans and RM30 million in grants under MyCreative Ventures and RM10 million under the Cultural Economy Development Agency (Cendana). 

In March, Singapore — which in 2002 introduced a Media 2021 blueprint to increase the sector’s GDP contribution and transform itself into a global media city — allocated another S$55 million in aid for the arts and culture sector in its supplementary budget to counter Covid-19. 

In July, South Korea pledged KRW156.9 billion (US$131 million) to support its arts sector, including KRW23.2 billion in grants for financially strapped artists and KRW31.9 billion in wage support for people in the performing arts such as theatre, musicals and classical concerts. South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism received KRW6.48 trillion (US$4.9 billion) in Budget 2019, with KRW1.1 trillion to be invested in the virtual reality content sector and KRW40 billion on a new VR content exhibition space in Seoul. Some KRW113 billion was allocated to content creators while KRW32.3 billion was earmarked to support local filmmakers, cartoonists and fashion designers looking to expand overseas, according to Korean news reports.

According to the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI), the annual economic impact from South Korean popular global idol group BTS alone was about US$5.6 billion as at June 2020 and is set to reach KRW56 trillion (US$49.8 billion) over 10 years from 2014 to 2023. BTS alone had helped sell over US$9 billion worth of clothing, cosmetics and food currently, says HRI, which in 2018 estimated that the boy band contributed some US$1.1 billion or 1.7% of total Korean consumer goods exports in 2017. Prior to the pandemic, local news reports had indicated around 1% boost each to the GDP for the cities of Seoul and Busan from just one BTS concert, owing to its army of global fans that are kept constantly engaged by a team of online professionals in different time zones. 

To be sure, the creative industries have not only become an increasingly important contributor to GDP growth but have proved to be transformative in terms of generating income, jobs and exports, United Nations resident coordinator Stefan Priesner said at the online forum, noting the tangible benefits of integrating the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals related to the cultural and creative industries in national development plans and budgets.

Continue @ https://iconada.tv/photo/iconmoocs003

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 20, 2022 at 12:44pm

爲「漢麗寶公主」勤背書　林美芬轉戰舞台

幾乎每個舞台劇演員都有一個登上國家文化宮（Istana Budaya）的夢，去年，連國語都不太會説的林美芬卻演了5場《Takhta 3 Ratu》舞台劇中漢麗寶公主（Hang Li Poh）的角色。今年，她擠下蘇盈之主演2月13至21日演出的馬來舞台劇《Zombie La La La》，正式成爲本地華人圈第二人入主馬來舞台劇。

• 2007年參加《我要做Model》入行後，你是如何接觸到舞台劇呢？

比賽之後，我參與了ntv7電視劇，如《時光電台》、《懼場》及《分身乏術》等作品的演出，可是當新人倍出，我的邀約就少了。這期間我試過轉到幕後，Astro的福建戲劇《家緣》就是我冩我公公的故事，也試過回家幫忙做了3年生意，但蘇盈之的一通電話，讓我再度回到了娛樂圈。

去年原是蘇盈之主演《Takhta 3 Ratu》舞台劇中漢麗寶公主的角色，但因爲檔期關係，她有5場戲沒辦法出演，所以推薦了我去面試。我的國語其實很差，面試的時候都説英語，導演都快看不 下去，但我真的很想得到這個角色，所以從下午拿到劇本開始一直背書，到晚上才面試，導演聽了，決定給我機會，我很感恩。

整個科系只有我一個華人，還是最老的一個，哈哈！不過其他同學都對我這個「kakak」很好。一開始，別人用一小時做好的功課，我要花4小時，一字 一字地翻譯和整理語法，但同學們都知道我的程度較差，平日也會借我重點筆記。我印象最深刻的是有一次考試，那一段類似古文的台詞我背了很久，在考試的時候還是忘了後半段！同學們幫我向老師求情，讓我有第二次重考的機會，可是我又在台詞的部分「卡住」，當時同學們在台下比手劃腳地給我貼士，真的讓我很感動！

籌備《Zombie La La La》時有何趣事？《Takhta 3 Ratu》開會時有五六十人，説話的速度又快，有時候我會聽不懂。可是時間很緊迫，不可能停下來解釋給我聽，幸好之後其他演員會解釋給我聽。這一次雖然我 的國語比之前好，但偶爾還是會跟不上。我記得有一次導演開玩笑説我是「sengkuang」，我以爲他是在吃沙爹要配料沙葛，引來哄堂大笑！後來他們告訴 我，是笑我糊裡糊塗、萌呆的意思。

• 接下來的計劃？

在馬來舞台劇這一行漸漸被關注的初期，我的心情有點微妙，感覺像是被中文娛樂圈拋棄了，但蘇盈之跟我説「馬來領域其實是一塊寶地」，讓我改觀不少。 我中學畢業後曾想過專攻舞台劇，但父母認爲沒前途，所以不讓我繼續，之後我就只有在教會的舞台劇上演出，就此累積了一些小基礎。其實我沒想過接下來的發展 會是怎樣，我才剛入行舞台劇，有很多部分需要加強進修。現在因爲唸書住在學院的宿捨，所以拍戲的檔期很難安排，所以就順其自然吧！

• 在馬來舞台劇的野心是什麼？

不能説野心，但我期望有一天我能冩、演另一版本的「漢麗寶公主」。在《Takhta 3 Ratu》中的漢麗寶公主，是一名從國外來到馬六甲，爲了獲得蘇丹的心而努力獻慇勤的人。而再更之前2004年左右，國家文化宮也有過一出漢麗寶公主的舞台劇，但那段冩的卻是漢麗寶公主對蘇丹不忠，出軌的故事。漢麗寶公主是故事裡華人的縮影，我爲這個角色做考究的時候，發現漢麗寶公主不過是個離鄉背井來到 大馬後，愛上蘇丹也愛上這片土地的女人，所以我希望有機會能改編這段歷史故事，去詮釋我心中的漢麗寶公主。

林美芬小檔案

生日日期：6月29日

身高∕體重：169公分/56公斤

出道：第一屆《我要做Model》

演出經歷：

2007-08年 電視遊戲節目《一擲千金》

2013年 《時光電台》

2014年 《懼場》、《分身乏術》

（2016年2月14日 詩華日報）

愛墾網：馬素麗故事

浪礁嶼的馬蘇麗是馬來西亞的潘金蓮？ 

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 19, 2022 at 5:55pm

《山打根八號娼館》

阿崎婆自小被賣到南洋沙巴當雛雞，年邁回到日本。其口述歷史造就了山崎朋子的名著《山打根八號娼館》。靠著一位小學四年級的女孩，文盲的她一直和山崎朋子保持通信，女孩的稚拙的筆跡飽含童心，寫著老奶奶身邊大大小小的趣事。

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 19, 2022 at 12:39pm

What about the Oscars? 

CJ Entertainment is in charge of overseas sales and the marketing of The Garden of The Evening Mists, touted as Malaysia’s most well-funded film to date (said to be RM20 million), jointly produced by Astro Shaw and HBO Asia. Asked about Malaysia’s chances of securing an Oscar nomination with The Garden of The Evening Mists, Astro Malaysia Bhd group CEO Henry Tan would only say what is important is that the group continues to strive for excellence in content production. The movie received nine nominations (including for best film, best director and best screenplay, and best actress for Malaysian actress Angelica Lee) at the 56th Golden Horse Film Festival and won the award for Best Makeup and Costume Design.

Tan noted, though, that Taiwanese-American Oscar-winning film director and screenwriter Ang Lee said he “hopes to see more films like this” after watching the film in Taipei.

“Both the book and the film are high-quality works with a strong positive message. I do believe both the book and film will stand the test of time and leave a mark on both Malaysian literature and Malaysian cinema,” says Taiwanese Tom Lin Shu-Yu, who directed the film based on a screenplay by British screenwriter Richard Smith, adapted from Malaysian novelist Tan Twan Eng’s book.

 

Twan Eng reckons that the film is already a landmark for Malaysia “just based on the scale of the production alone”. “The cast and crew are highly talented and diverse, coming from all regions of the world. The production values are world-class. The film looks lush and gorgeous. It focuses on a turbulent period of our history, and Tom Lin has created a sensitive, nuanced, restrained film,” he tells The Edge. 

Why should policymakers pay attention to the rise in the Asian narrative on the global stage and how can they help people in the creative arts? 

“Artists need time to master their craft, and it’s important that policymakers protect the seedlings of creativity from global capitalism and consumerism. For example, Korea has policies protecting Korean Cinema by ordering that movie theatres play at least 50% local films in their theatres. If it was all up to the theatres, they would only play what sells most, but culturally and artistically, it may become hard for that nation to improve,” Lin tells The Edge, noting that education is also key in ensuring that youths are on the same page in terms of the value that the creative arts bring to the nation and society.

 

 “If we are to catch the attention of the West, we will need support from the entire country, and at the same time, the country itself needs to promote all the goods — whether it’s literature, cinema, food, music — that are local to the international scene. Like Parasite again, it’s getting the attention it has because it’s a good film, but also, because of how Koreans have risen their image in the hearts of minds of the West, and this takes an entire nation to achieve,” adds Lin. 

While one can argue that Parasite “may not be Boon Joon Ho’s strongest film”, Lin notes that “it has gotten him furthest into the mainstream in the west”. 

“If Parasite was made 10 to 15 years ago, it might not reach where it is now… this wouldn’t have been possible if not for the whole K-Pop culture getting into the West first,” Lin says. （The Edge Malaysia，November 10, 2020）

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 18, 2022 at 5:08pm

Boosting The Exports of Malaysia's Creative Content Through Partnership

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and China Intercontinental Communication Co.,Ltd (CICC) marked a momentous occasion today by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote trade of creative contents between Malaysia and China. The MoU signing was witnessed by Minister II of International Trade and Industry (MITI) YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan.

MATRADE was represented by its Chief Executive Officer Dato' Dzulkifli Mahmud and CICC by its Vice President Mr. Jing Shuiqing.

The MoU aims to strengthen communication and cooperation between media organisations in China and Malaysia by leveraging on China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. The MoU will see MATRADE and CICC working together to link industry players from both countries to embark on exchange of creative content (such as films, documentaries and television shows, among others) and business matching (through MATRADE's International Sourcing Programme) for the purpose of driving trade of creative contents for both nations. The collaboration will strengthen the existing professional ties between both countries and could also initiate the sharing of experience, knowledge and best practices with China.

According to Dato' Dzulkifli, the MoU is an important step forward for both parties to promote cultural exchange through each other's media channels. "This partnership will facilitate and coordinate the communications between media players of both countries. With this partnership, Malaysian media can rest assured that they have a partner in China to assist them in areas such as co-productions," he said.

The Malaysian government has identified creative content as one of the Entry Point Projects (EPP) under the Economic Transformation Programme to enhance capacity, capability and competency of the industry in producing world-class content and additionally making Malaysia a regional hub for digital content.

In the EPP, the creative content industry is expected to contribute RM3.04 billion to Gross National Income (GNI) and produce more than 10,000 jobs by year 2020. The industry is also targeted to have an annual growth rate of 20 percent.

In the latest figures recorded in 2015, creative content contributed RM9.55 billion and represents 6.4 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To date, Malaysia has exported RM6.8 billion worth of creative contents.

With China as one of Malaysia's biggest trading partners, the MoU sets to further strengthen China's and Malaysia's relationship by leveraging on the OBOR Initiative, which is a development strategy and framework of China's government to boost connectivity and cooperation between China and the rest of the world.

MATRADE as Malaysia's export promotion agency provides various export facilitation such as market intelligence, trade advisory, export promotion and capacity building programme for Malaysian companies. The agency, under MITI, has trade offices in Beijing (beijing@matrade.gov.my), Shanghai (shanghai@matrade.gov.my), Guangzhou (guangzhou@matrade.gov.my) and Chengdu (chengdu@matrade.gov.my) that functioned to help Malaysian companies penetrate into the China market. (Source: https://www.matrade.gov.my)

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 17, 2022 at 10:24pm

Creative Industries Policy in Malaysia 2009

Malaysia’s DIKN document issued in 2009 is to date the only policy document that defines and
articulates a creative industries policy for Malaysia. When it was launched the DIKN was touted to
“empower the creative industries as a whole based on creativity and innovation, thus contributing to a high income economy and to uphold the nation's cultural heritage” (Yatim, 2011). DIKN divides the creative industries into three categories: Creative Multimedia, Creative Cultural Arts, and Creative Cultural Heritage (see Table 1 below). Whereas the DCMS model does not differentiate between different sectors, the DIKN acknowledges that there are technological, creative, and platform differences between the three. It also makes explicit the emphasis given to digital media which has become a focus of government agencies, and the only creative industries sector targeted explicitly in the 2015 Budget (“Bajet 2015,” 2014).


The twin emphasis in the DIKN is on the economic contribution of the creative industries and on
mainstreaming intellectual property. Expanding employment opportunities is emphasised as is the need to find markets overseas and export cultural products. According to the DIKN document, Malaysia’s creative industries contributed only 1.27% to national income, less than half of what comparable countries record (DIKN quotes figures of 3%-5%). Clearly Malaysia finds itself in a position of relative disadvantage in terms of the size, contribution, status, strength, and visibility of the creative industries in comparative terms. (Creative Industries Policy in Malaysia, 2015)

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 16, 2022 at 3:34pm

Malaysia’s creative industry contribution to GDP remains low

by S BIRRUNTHA

MALAYSIA’S creative industry contribution towards the GDP stands at 2% for the last five years, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said at the moment, the industry contributes approximately 2% towards the GDP and employs around one million people.

He added that while the industry’s exports maintained its contribution at 0.2%, the contribution of employment decreased to 5.7% in 2019.

“Looking at the statistics, we notice all the main indicators show a very small contribution of the creative industry towards the Malaysian economy.

“However, we do believe there is some room for improvement to increase the industry’s overall contribution towards the country’s GDP,” he said in a virtual presentation titled “Overview of the Arts and Culture Sector of Malaysia and its Future Outlook” at the Creative Economy Forum 2021.

Mohd Uzir noted that while the creative industry is significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is showing signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q20) with a growth percentage of 31.7%.

He said to further boost the industry, support from all parties including government agencies and the private sector is needed to contribute to its development.

He also said a satellite account for the country’s creative industry is now being compiled by the DoSM to further monitor its growth.

According to Mohd Uzir, the main contributions of the creative industry towards the economy are the multimedia industry with 50.7%, followed by the culture and art industry (49.2%).

Over the past years, the creative economy has made a significant contribution to world trade as world exports of creative goods increased to US$509 billion (RM2.11 trillion) in 2015 from US$208 billion in 2002.

In 2019, the country’s exports of creative goods were at RM220 million, comprising items such as printed book，brochures, printed materials, pictures and photographs. Mohd Uzir said among the countries involved in the exports of creative goods are India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey and Poland.

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 16, 2022 at 3:29pm

In terms of imports, Malaysia has imported creative goods amounting to RM367 million in 2019. The goods include printed materials such as leaflets, printed book brochures, paintings, pastels and drawings.

Meanwhile, speaking in a live address during the forum, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the threat of Covid-19 continues to loom over the creative industry, as the country races to find a solution to end this pandemic.

He added that until then, the creative industry needs maximum support to pivot, adapt and evolve.

 

“The silver lining to our current predicament is that it has also presented an opportunity for the industry to take the necessary steps to become more resilient and robust to face future challenges.

“We needed to find ways beyond financial subsidies and tie-over measures, to enable artists and creative enterprises to become self-sustaining and realise their potential of becoming significant income-generators for Malaysia’s economy,” he noted. 

The Creative Economy 2021 Forum, jointly hosted by MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd, Cultural Economy Development Agency (Cendana) and Riuh, was held virtually via Zoom Webinar yesterday.

 

The forum brought together the arts, donors and businesses, for discussions and conversations on priorities, as well as opportunities to create a vibrant, ambitious and sustainable creative economy for Malaysia.

MyCreative, which also includes Cendana, was given the mandate to implement and carry out the short-term National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) for the creative industries, through a variety of schemes and initiatives such as live event grants, digital marketing grants, matching investments schemes, fast track and low-interest soft loans, as well as the digital velocity programmes comprising digital marketing and promotion training, connectivity assistance and advisory services.

 

A total of 1,745 applications worth RM73 million for various measures from the stimulus package are currently being reviewed by MyCreative.

In the meantime, Cendana has approved 234 applications worth about RM3.5 million.

A further 114 applications amounting to RM9.6 million were also approved for distribution to successful applicants under the Penjana for the creative industries.

（Wednesday, October 21st, 2020，Source: (https://themalaysianreserve.com）

Comment by 文創 庫 on September 15, 2022 at 8:17pm

Murut’s 1930 New York journey going global

KOTA KINABALU: The story of Saudin bin Labutau from Kg Ambual in Keningau who became the first Malaysian – and for that matter from this part of the world – to visit New York in the 1930s and return to Sabah to tell his adventure will be known to the world soon.

Peninsula-based RYE Productions Sdn Bhd, noted for producing television dramas and concerts, has made a documentary on the exploits of the partially blind Murut. It would be shown on History Channel after the official launch in Sabah on Oct. 28 at UMS by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor.

The documentary combines actual footages, dramatised re-enactments of Saudin’s life, including interviews with family members about their grandfather, who is well documented in the 1939 international classic by Agnes Keith, “Land Below The Wind”.

                   James briefing Hajiji about Saudin while Noreini (left) and Noorhayati look on

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