THE director of the Myanma Motion Picture Enterprise, U Myint Thein Pe, has dismissed suggestions that the popularity of DVDs and VCDs is the main reason for a decline in attendances at cinemas during the past year.

“Watching a movie at a cinema will always be more enjoyable than watching a DVD or VCD at home,” he said last week.

U Myint Thein Pe was responding to comments by an industry source that cinema audiences had declined by about 40 per cent since mid-2003.

He said the reason for the decline was a lack of creativity in the movie industry.
“The movie industry is suffering a penalty for its lack of art,” U Myint Thein Pe said.
Movie goers were also bored by a lack of new actors and actresses and scripts that lacked originality, he said.

“If Myanmar films were creative and of good quality cinemas would have no difficulty attracting audiences.”

U Myint Thein Pe said the government supported the development of the industry by sending directors, actors and actresses to foreign film festivals to study the techniques of their overseas counterparts.

The MMPE also conducted training courses aimed at improving the industry’s standards. The courses covered such subjects as the operation of cameras and sound equipment and film editing and printing.

Speaking in his capacity as secretary of the Film Censor Board, under the Ministry of Information, U Myint Thein Pe, said creativity was welcomed as long as the movie industry adhered to censorship guidelines.

“We are not satisfied with most of the films submitted for approval because they are shallow and have no message,” he said.

The board and the Ministry of Information had often called on the film industry to make movies featuring a variety of genres and displaying new and creative ideas that would attract audiences.

“We always appreciate films containing new ideas but they must be realistic,” U Myint Thein Pe said.

He said the main reason why many movies relied on the same plot was not expense but a lack of desire to make the effort needed to be creative and original. There was little difference in the cost of making a profound movie or a shallow one.

The industry also needed competent actors rather than those who were only interested in becoming stars, U Myint Thein Pe said.

The board relied on 10 criteria when examining movies, he said.
Movies were required to avoid political and religious issues as well as scenes involving criminal acts, violence or obscenity, encourage better standards of morality, protect the interests of children and promote national unity and friendship among nations.

The criteria were reasonable, said U Myint Thein Pe, who rejected suggestions by members of the film industry that its creativity was being hampered by censorship.
“Some film directors fail to make movies in accordance with the summaries submitted when they seek approval for the productions, resulting in problems with the board,” he said.

“Even if they fail to make movies in accordance with the summaries, we do not automatically reject them as we are aware of the time, money and effort they have put into the productions.”

The submission of summaries is the first step in the approval process. The completed movies also have to be approved by the board before they can be released.

An executive at one of Yangon’s biggest cinema companies agreed that audiences had become more discriminating in the last two years and this had affected box office takings.

“People used to prefer films featuring actors and actresses with super star status,” he said.

“But now they prefer good plots and scripts, not super stars.”
There are about 120 cinemas throughout the country that operate under licences issued annually by the MMPE. Another 46 cinemas have licences issued for at least 15 years, figures released by the enterprise show.

Under an agreement between the cinemas and the MMPE, movies are screened for two weeks.

Despite the fall in audiences, cinema screening schedules are booked until October.

The MMPE says 27 movies were approved for distribution by the censorship authorities in 2003. Sources in the cinema industry say dramatic comedies have become more popular than dramas or action movies.