KUCHING: The Sarawak government is willing to listen and offer incentives to filmmaking companies here to develop the local film industry, which also covers creative contents, so that it would be able to showcase the tourism attractions in Sarawak.

In this regard, Minister  of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah believes that the onus falls on the filmmakers and financiers to ‘unearth the best stories that we have in Asean, and to give them the spotlight that they deserve’.

He said this in his opening remarks for the launch of ‘Asean International Film Festival and Awards (Aiffa) Biz World 2019’ at Kuching Old Courthouse yesterday.

“We are organising ‘Aiffa Biz World’ to fulfil its roles of ensuring that the best of Asean films would continue to be produced, and also catering to the ever-growing demand among the discerning audiences that we have,” said Abdul Karim.

The minister also said the advancement of technology had enabled videos and movies to reach out to a larger audience without limitation in terms of localities and time zones.

The event yesterday also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Aiffa and City Role Holdings Group Ltd from China, meant to seek collaboration in Sarawak’s film industry, and that of Asean in general, via Aiffa.

Additionally, the MoU could also be regarded as a possibility to enhance film-making and other creative opportunities in Sarawak and in Asean.

It is learnt that Day Two of Aiffa Biz World 2019, today, will have producers and directors pitching to the Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA) for content financing as part of the continuation of Aiffa’s collaboration with SAAVA towards developing the film industry across Asean.

There are exhibition booths at the event, manned by various organisations including National Film Development Corporation (Finas), Borneo Native, Pungu Borneo, and Edaberan Ayak.

Aiffa is a biennial competition for filmmakers from 10 Asean countries, with 17 awards covering major aspects of the creative and technical areas of filmmaking being presented during the festival.