Cannes, France – FINAS is looking to spearhead Malaysia as the creative content hub of the region through a dynamic ecosystem in digital and broadcast content at MIPCOM.

FINAS continues its ongoing tradition of supporting local talents by promoting Malaysia’s creative content on the international stage. In addition to this, the country commitment to support local and attract foreign artist and production companies under the “Film in Malaysia Incentive” is a landmark decision that would develop and further promote Malaysia as a preferred destination and film production hub.

Speaking at MIPCOM in Cannes, Secretary General of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, Dato’ Sri Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi said, “FINAS is always supportive of our home-grown talent, we have developed the Film in Malaysia Incentive for content development specifically for film, television and other screen productions. We are anticipating that these incentives would encourage productions works and increase skills sets that would be of international standard for the populace throughout the ecosystem of the creative content industry.”

FINAS has performed well in the content market this year, earning RM67.4 million in total revenue sales, and is expected to achieve its target of RM165 million by the end of 2014. The country is equipped with value-added enticements to attract foreign productions through a cost competitive and conducive working environment. This is also complemented by the availability of world-class infrastructures that include the Iskandar Pinewood Studios in Johor.

Dato’ Rahim said, “To date, Malaysia has exported over RM400 million worth of creative content and we are positive at hitting our RM600 million target by year end. We are looking to develop Malaysia’s reputation as an efficient and cost effective hub for the creative content industry.”

In addition to this, Malaysia’s creative scene looks to be bolstered through two announcements at the festival this year. Funcel Sdn Bhd, a local animation company will be premiering Malaysia’s first anime series, 7 Satria. The country will relish the opportunity to launch its latest telenovela, A Love to Remember, for international consumption, courtesy of a merger between Astro (Malaysia), Global Station (Malaysia), and Azteca TV (Mexico).

“We have added to our strengths in the creative industry by producing and managing globally recognised content. The recent merger between Astro, Global Station and Azteca TV is testament of our growing success as well as our continued push to establish ourselves as the creative content hub in Asia,” he added.

Malaysia’s value chain also extends downstream, where it is recognised for providing technologies at a fraction of international cost. Along with this, the industry also offers high-technology film and studios that include 3D animations and documentary productions. The country is also responsible for internationally-acclaimed Computer Generated Imagery animations such as Life of Pi, Snow White and the Huntsman, and War of the Worlds: Goliath.

This year, Malaysia is featuring a wide range of original content, such as animation, drama and documentary films to an international list of buyers and distributors.