TCCF: Malaysia Set To Join Turkey, Indonesia, Philippines In Launching Co-production Funding Scheme

Content agencies from Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines presented their incentives and co-production initiatives at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) on Thursday. 

Malaysia’s National Film Development Corp (FINAS) revealed that it plans to join the regional trend to launch a scheme designed to stimulate co-production with its domestic filmmakers. 

“We’re moving towards gap financing and matching funds, which we’ll be announcing officially next year,” said FINAS CEO Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib.

“We’re exploring how to get into gap financing and best match with our rebate systems. Moving forward, we want to encourage more private investors to enter the picture.” 

Malaysia already has a location incentive for both local and international productions, Film In Malaysia Incentive (FIMI), which offers a 30% cash rebate on all qualifying Malaysian production expenditure, with an additional 5% rebate subject to a cultural test. 

FIMI has so far supported 61 foreign titles, with combined cash payouts of $90M, and 54 domestic productions, with cash payouts of $14.5M. Foreign titles supported include Crazy Rich Asians, The Mandalorian, 6 Underground and Blackhat. 

Alex Sihar of Indonesia’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology explained how Indonesia has boosted its local film industry through a range of initiatives, including the Indonesia Film Matchfund.

The $10M initiative matches funds secured by Indonesian co-production projects from funding bodies overseas. More than 15 oaverseas funds are recognized by the scheme including Hubert Bals Fund, CNC’s Cinemas du Monde, Berlin’s World Cinema Fund, Norway’s Sorfond, Doha Film Institute, Purin Pictures and co-production schemes launched in Singapore and Taiwan.

Films supported by Indonesia Film Matchfund include Crocodiles Tears, which recently premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, and Tale Of The Land, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Busan International Film Festival. 

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology has also been funding labs, workshops, film festivals and other initiatives to support the local film industry. In recent years, a slew of Indonesian