Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, MP, said that depending on the opinion of stakeholders, the government would consider modifying its current film policy.
“We will consider all proposals,” he said.
The minister said this on Sunday while talking to a delegation of film exhibitors at the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).
The exhibitors complained about the huge losses incurred by the current policy and said it had led to the closure of many movie houses throughout the country. “The ones that are surviving are incurring huge losses,” they said.
They also said that while cable television operators were running newly released foreign films the movie houses had no choice but to run local movies or backdated foreign films. “This is not fair”, they remarked.
The minister agreed with them and said “Henceforth all exhibitors including cable operators would have to get a censor certificate if they wanted to exhibit foreign films.”
The minister emphasized the need for digitization of movie houses which would cut exhibition costs and asked them to form an association and send their proposal to the ministry.
He also said that he would request the finance ministry for loans for the modification of the film industry.
He also requested them to include the pros and cons of their propositions vis-…-vis the current one.
“Only then can we come to a reasonable decision, “he said.
The minister also said that countries like India, Pakistan and Iran were showing films from the subcontinent without any adverse impact on the local industry. “Nepal, a small country, compared to Bangladesh, was producing excellent films despite competition from their neighbors,” he said.
The exhibitors promised to come out with their detailed proposal at the earliest.
The exhibitors also requested for advertising rights through billboards in the metropolitan city areas.
The minister promised due consideration.
