Malaysia: Film producers want to stop the onscreen piracy

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The unhealthy trend of streaming local movies online is an ongoing menace

TECHNOLOGY has helped to further develop the landscape of filmmaking — from pushing the creative boundaries onscreen and how cinemagoers experience movies to the promotional aspects as well.

The flipside of this, however, is that it also unintentionally empowers the regular Joe to do things that certainly hurt the entertainment industry and the people behind these creative works — whether they realise this or not.

With the ubiquitous smartphone and Facebook’s live video streaming application used in tandem, movies have been recorded wholesale in cinemas and streamed live for all to see for free.

This devious new phenomena has been the bane of the local filmmaking industry, which already has to struggle with piracy.

MAKING A LOSS

Many personalities have naturally been up in arms about the whole affair.

Recently, actress Ayda Jebat hit out at irresponsible individuals who live-streamed the film, Pinjamkan Hatiku, in which she stars.

Her popular co-star, Farid Kamil, filed a police report on the matter, accompanied by the film’s director Osman Ali.

Actor Bront Palarae also recently posted on his Twitter account that he was informed a girl had been caught in a cinema trying to live-stream his latest film Pengabdi Setan.

Both Pinjamkan Hatiku and Pengabdi Setan are currently playing in cinemas.

Action blockbuster movie Tombiruo: Penunggu Rimba, which premiered a few months back, was also reported to have suffered the same fate of being streamed live.

The nasty phenomenon is nothing new to Osman. His films had fallen prey to live streaming twice and it was especially bad with Jwanita two years ago.

“It was uploaded on cyberspace and received close to a million views, which jeopardised my plan to screen it in Indonesian cinemas,” said the irate director when contacted.

He added: “This year, Kau Yang Satu was uploaded on Facebook simultaneously with its release in cinemas.”

Veteran actor, director and producer Datuk Yusof Haslam said that live streaming has been a real menace to all film companies and if left to fester, smaller outfits will eventually close shop.

“The worst case I’ve come across so far involved Global Station, which has lost more than RM2 million in ticket sales for Kau Yang Satu,” said Yusof of the film that premiered last July.

He added that his own production company Skop, which was responsible for the recent mega hit Abang Long Fadil 2, had also suffered losses.

SIMPLY CRIMINAL

Datuk Ahmad Izham Omar, meanwhile, tweeted: “Streaming from the cinema is illegal. It hurts everyone.”

In his column in NST, the chief executive officer of Primeworks Studio also said it was a crime.

He wrote: “And now, the latest fad, live-streaming from the cinema. This is not just wrong, it’s criminal. You are stealing. Stop it. You are killing an industry.”

His opinion was echoed by Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, producer and Film Producers’ Association of Malaysia (PFM) president, who stressed that FB live-streaming from cinemas was “a crime, plain and simple.”

He added that “many filmgoers do not realise it is a criminal offence, no better than video piracy.”

It was reported that the producers of Kau Yang Satu had filed a police report months ago on the illegal transmission and copying of Kau Yang Satu, which starred Aaron Aziz, Izara Aisyah and Soo Wincci.

Apparently two cinemagoers had recorded the movie and posted it on their FB accounts which garnered more than 200,000 views at the time.

The damage done to the local film industry is no laughing matter.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

Norman said that it was time to have pre-film warnings against live streaming, along the lines of the previous anti-video piracy campaigns.

He added: “We must highlight the Copyright Act 1987’s anti-camcording section, 43A, which says it is an offence to operate an audio visual recording device in a screening room to record films.”

Other industry personalities suggested more stern measures.

Director Datuk A. Razak Mohaideen said: “It may sound troublesome to cinemagoers but cinemas ought to have them deposit their cameras and phones in safekeeping boxes before a show starts.

“Cinemas should also install devices which cut off Internet streaming when films are being screened,” he said.

Producer David Teo chimed in: “There’s a dire need to increase the amount of fines for illegally recording films in cinemas.

“At the moment, the amount is RM5,000 and above. While my company, MIG, has not fallen victim to such piracy, we can’t take chances and I’ve notified the Communications and Multimedia Ministry about this ongoing menace to the film industry,” he said.

Osman agreed with the suggestions, adding: “It’s high time we tighten laws against intellectual property theft and issue stern warnings before films are screened.”

“Having TV stations show such warnings will also be good, as people upload new films from the small screen too,” he said.

WORKING TOGETHER

Yusof said: “We at PFM have met with officials from the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, as well as from the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) to discuss what must be done, as it’s a serious threat to all filmmakers’ livelihoods.”

“The ministry has set up a special task force to combat live-streaming, and it has PFM’s full cooperation. The first thing we will do is to have a stern warning screened before every film, reminding culprits that they face fines, jail or both.

“We, producers, will also take legal action against all culprits caught in the act.

“On the part of cinemas, I’m happy to hear that many of them are going to install cameras to monitor their audiences,” he said.

Datuk Freddie Fernandez, Malaysian Artistes’ Association (Karyawan) president, said it was timely that Finas and PFM are working together to curb the trend of illegal recordings for good.

He added: “Most important of all, the public must report cases of culprits carrying out this despicable act.”

Finas director-general Datuk Fauzi Ayob said the agency was in the midst of cooperating with various government agencies, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and PFM to fight this intellectual property theft.

He added: “We have received reports on three cases so far — two involving the film Abang Long Fadil 2 and one involving Kau Yang Satu.

“All cinema operators are cooperating with us to monitor such incidents, and we will soon screen public service announcements on the threat of live streaming before every film,” said Fauzi.