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by E.M.G. Edirisinghe

The present National Film Corporation (NFC) established under Act No. 45 of 1980 is the successor to the SFC established in 1972 under Act no. 47 of 1971.

Among its cluster of wide powers and glittering objectives which stand valid and tall even today some of which could be considered the soul and substance of NFC that breathe life into the national cinema are as follows.

Promote, encourage and develop the film industry and maintain high standards in regard to films produced in Sri Lanka;

Promote, and expand the demand for and trade in films produced in Sri Lanka both within and outside Sri Lanka;

Foster co-operation and coordination among persons connected with or engaged in the film industry in and outside Sri Lanka

A treasury circular issued in 2000, even though had watered down the powers of the NFC and blunted its teeth required to realise the above objectives which are vital to our national cinema are sill fresh and need life being breathed into them.

The measure of importance of the subject of national cinema was considered so high that during the greater part of the existence of the Corporation since its inception, it was brought under the office of President or the Prime Minister whatever the government was in power at the time.

What was once the monopoly of the private sector, with the establishment of the NFC the direction and guidance of the film industry became the monopoly of the NFC. With the switching of political colours from time to time in the light of free market economy globally gaining ground, it was admittedly not possible to leave the production, distribution and exhibition of films entirely in the hands of the NFC.

Yet the cultural and social significance of cinema and its strong entertainment appeal makes it a subject that cannot be entirely free from government control. Few individuals cannot decide on social, cultural and educational material with which the entire population is to be treated with.

Cinema is an art as well as an industry. It is the seventh art. So naturally, there could arise a conflict of interests between these concerns. For some it is purely an art, whereas for some others it is purely a business.

This is where the role of the NFC comes into focus. In this duel role as a state institution, it should be instrumental in protecting film as an industry as well as it should be pivotal in elevating its aesthetic content while encouraging national cinema as an art.

Since the importers and exhibitors know how to make their business profitable, it is the NFC on which the responsibility of protecting films as a national art in pursuance of its noble objectives, rests.

The example of the US, India or Japan is the last and the least we should follow. Those three countries put together make up for more than 80% of the films made in a year in the whole world. Even Japan is facing difficulties now. India which has a giant film industry with a massive market too, is in trouble. For instance, in the year 2002, her recorded financial loss in the film industry is in the region of Rs. 5 billion. In fact 85% of her films are run at a loss. So it is only the Hollywood which is still going strong.

Similarly, the Hollywood films no other films have a global market. Except in the sphere of art those films offer nothing for us to emulate any other area.

Film industry as a whole cannot survive without making profits which aspect of it is well looked after by the private sector. The NFC should survive to save it as an art and the private sector income too; a part of its income should go to help the NFC to protect the national cinema. One should note with all seriousness that the Film Corporation is not a Timber Corporation or a Cement Corporation.

No private company in our country would ever run a National Museum, Art Gallery a Folk Theatere. So the importance of the NFC and its cultural and national significance becomes more emphatic and evident which makes it the concern of the people and the country.

It was Satyajith Ray's Pathar Panchali (1955) and similarly Lester James Perie's Gam Peraliya (1964) that put India and Sri Lanka, respectively on the world map of cinema. So our capacity to contribute as an art is more important than anything else. That makes the hand of the NFC more pivotal than ever because of the near total privatisation of the film industry.

Entertainment value in the story, music, dance and song in the commercials however will remain as in any other country Commercially Sri Lankan cinema has very little scope outside the country.

Therefore, return on investment rests mainly on local exhibition. However, as an art, we can and have scope to create an impact outside the country as well as it had already happened (eg. Rekhawa, Gamperaliya, Eya Den Loku Lamayek, Saroaja, Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna, Purahanda Kaluwara etc.). A work of art in this regard, is within our intellectual, professional and financial resources. So the potential of the NFC is to be the parents to our national cinema, and its art.

Liberalisation of the importation of films had helped theatre halls to swell with 'Adults Only' films. The majority of the locally produced films are black comedies. The exhibitors claim that they give what the people 'want'.

To give what the people want is the refuge of the scoundrel and what the people want appears to be sex, comedy and violence. Is the taste of our people is so shallow? An elected government cannot take cover under such deceptions, and shower the people with what they 'want'. It has to give more and act with greater responsibility in guiding the people by providing them with a morally, spiritually and intellectually healthy environment.

The NFC too, is a government institution and it has a greater responsibility than the profit-motivated private establishments. If the people ask for more and more bombs, guns, drugs and brothels, could a people's government give all that? One cannot give a loaded pistol with live cartridges to a child!

The exhibitors in the business today are alleged to be in default of the payment of the levy due to the NFC. The levy lying in default is said to be over 50 million rupees. This levy collected from the film-goers at the rate of Rs. 3.10 per ticket is legally due to the NFC, presently the guardian of national cinema.

The survival of the NFC as a co-lateral organization undoubtedly helps cinema in general and national cinema in particular. The levy payable to the NFC is like TT or GST or VAT payable to Revenue. The levy is paid by the people and the exhibitors like the traders are in temporary custody of the money on behalf both the paying public and the state. If the exhibitors retain it, it amounts to breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds as it is unjust enrichment on the part of those who withhold the payment. To question the NFC is their right, but they must first pay it and then question about how the funds are spent.

Mere uninterrupted exhibition of films is not a valid reason to justify the liberalisation of imports. Production of national films of high standard in both quality and entertainment is the challenge the local film industry should take up. We still do talk of Citizen Cane, Birth of Nation Gam Peraliya, Battleship Potempkin, Pathar Panchali or Seven Samurai which were simple plain, but momentous films made several decades ago. In fact, they form the life-blood and inspiration of cinema as a whole. Money the film makes vanishes but the art in it endures into eternity.

Today, entertainment is an industry and the state is increasingly coming to play an important role in it. Cinema is the foremost component of it. Film becomes an industry in a country only when it begins to produce films. If there is no production there is no industry. Exhibition is the easiest part of its industrial process. To show a foreign film with Madhuri Dixist or de Capiro is one thing, and to make a film here with one of them acting is another.

Without an established film industry the small body of our professionals (actors, cameramen, editors, musicians, directors etc.) will not only professionally survive, but they will not get an opportunity to show their creativity, talent and skill to the filmgoers here and abroad. The NFC owes a primary duty to the professionals for their professional survival. They are the substance and life of the industry.

The strong private sector inspirited by the liberal government policy has a bounden duty to see that the NFC is alive and strong for the good of national cinema as a whole. They should not take the NFC as an enemy just because it asked them to pay the levy which had fallen into arrears.

If our films are to make their presence felt, it must stand immune to influence of Hollywood and Bollywood block-busters. Our forte lies primarily on its survival as an art with the stamp of its national identity marked.

Without the direct benevolent intervention of the State through the NFC, our national cinema now could hardly survive as an art, the essential feature of cinema art.

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