The arts
Creating a rich creative industry
Sedia nurtures young artistic talents
By Nurhafizah Yusof
Pictures by Victor Lo
A blink can be as long as five minutes. That is the maximum length of a movie for a film-making contest of the yearly Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) organized by the Society of Performing Arts of Kota Kinabalu (SPaRKS). Blink5 is a copy of the eight-minute movie of the educational digital film festival pioneered by the IT advancement unit of the Sabah ministry of resource development and information technology, Multi-Media Development Corporation and the ministry of education. The Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) is financing it even though the maiden SPaRKS contest last year attracted only six contestants – five from Sabah and the other from Kuala Lumpur.
Nevertheless Yaakub Johari, Sedia chief executive officer, sees it as a stepping-stone to develop a lucrative creative industry by nurturing young artistic talents. “This is an area that we like,” he tells Insight Sabah. “It’s a new area with good potential.”
Sedia and SPaRKS have just signed a memorandum of understanding that will see Sedia funding SPaRKS activities. Yaakub says Sedia is giving SPaRKS slightly more than 20,000 ringgit ($6,500) to start with. “It’s not much. But we think it’s meaningful.”
As with the past two years, the key KKIFF event is the screening of local and foreign films from Italy, Japan and France with the help of embassies in Kota Kinabalu from June 3 to 8. Last day for entries in the Blink5 film-makers contest is April 30. Results will be announced on June 4 at a film-making workshop from 2.30-4.30 p.m. at the Theatrette Ahmed Nesfu in the School of Arts Studies of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The winner will get a six-month internship with Exodus Production, a local video-making company, to learn basic film making. It is worth 4,800 ringgit.
Sedia oversees the Sabah development corridor, an ambitious plan that started in 2008 to turn Sabah into a gateway for trade, investment and tourism. It expects 105 billion ringgit of investment that will create 900,000 jobs in 18 years. So far more than 4 billion ringgit has gone into the corridor projects which include a palm oil industrial cluster and an education hub in Sandakan and other agro-based industries such as an integrated livestock centre in Keningau.
Yaakub says the corridor projects will fit in with the 12 National Key Result Areas (NKEAs) of the ambitious 1.4 trillion ringgit Economic Transformation Programme of prime minister Najib Razak to turn Malaysia into a high-income country by 2020. Generating multi-media content for computers, the internet, telecommunication and broadcasting is one under “Communications Content and Infrastructure”.
“The creative industry is one of the corridor’s new growth drivers to make Sabah one of the most livable places in Asia and the world by 2025,” he says. “One of our major programmes is to market Sabah as an ultimate lifestyle destination for business, culture and nature.”
Sabah has its fair share of international fame on the big screen and television. Bat 21, a 1988 Hollywood movie on the Vietnam war starring Academy Award winner Gene Hackman, was filmed entirely in Sabah with many Sabahans playing supporting roles in it.
The Survivor Borneo, a series of the American reality show, was set on Pulau (island) Tiga. Amazing Race Asia followed. Hong Kong film-makers have also shot their movies and television soap operas on location in Sabah.
Meanwhile Masidi Manjun, minister of tourism, culture and environment, says his ministry is seeking 10m ringgit to turn the Penampang Cultural Centre into a concert hall where plays and musicals can be staged. Orchestras can also perform there. – Insight Sabah
Related stories:
Sabah holds out hope for the big screen
Short story telling with a difference
Posted on February 25, 2011
Explore more:
SPaRKS, KKIFF, Sedia, Masidi Manjun, Gene Hackman, Bat 21, Pulau Tiga, Survior Borneo
-
Change is already taking place and change from within is what the government has done.
Prime Minister Datuk Najib Tun Razak referring to the success of the National Transformation Program that has already changed the nation for the better.
-
I encourage more companies in Malaysia to do likewise by playing a bigger role in conservation, as it is only through our collective efforts, that we will be able to pass on a beautiful country to our future generations.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman congratulated Astro for taking the initiative to organise the record breaking under water clean-up.
-
We know of the people's aspirations... They want development so as to raise their quality of life. This is our struggle, we want to ensure progress for the people.
UMNO Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin speaking to the Sandakan community at the 'An Afternoon with the Deputy Prime Minister' event yesterday.
-
Sabah is blessed with a wealth of natural treasures and for this reason, it is everyone’s responsibility to work together and do their part in keeping our streets, parks and beautiful beaches clean for all to enjoy.
Kota Kinabalu City Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir commenting on the Quality Environmental Practices Certification(5S) report presented by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) to the Cleanliness and Environmental Health Department (JKKP) of KK City Hall yesterday.
-
Do not take for granted the support given by the people. We, the elected representatives, must work hard to ensure the promises we made during the 13th general election are implemented accordingly.
The newly reappointed Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman, speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony held at Sandakan's Sri Libaran Hall on May 16th recently.