THE DOWNFALL OF SINHALA CINEMA’S GOLDEN ERA AND TV TRAGEDY
(Film Producer) An alleged con artist is involved in a shameful racket in the guise of archiving films. His modus operandi is to obtain the rights of old films in questionable ways and ruins the negatives, leaving no room for the movie to be screened in cinema halls henceforth.
As a film producer I know how much of effort goes into making a film and the extent of vision that goes into the creation of each and every frame.The cinematographer takes great pains to extract the best frame. We never made films to be shown on television. But most of the films that are telecast onTV today are not the ones we watched in the past.
Films that are telecast onTV today are cluttered with annoying sub titles running across the frames saying‘prohibited to copy on DVD,sale of DVD banned,possession of this film is banned, Inform the nearest police station if you come acrossVCD or DVDs of the film,Only for telecast in Sri Lanka,Telecast on internet forbidden etc.'. More lines may come in the future. As if these irritating lines are not sufficient,two letters add more burden to the viewer. My question is whether there is a clause in the Intellectual PropertyAct which has provision to take action against anyone who distorts frames of a filmmaker's creation and thereby challenging the fundamental rights of the viewer.
There is one person loitering at the NFC premises, pleading for films for benefit shows from producers,but when they are returned chunks of them including song sequences go missing.This happened to film producerAttorney Prajapala Gunawardana's ‘Bakmaha Deege'.
When we watch a movie in a cinema hall we get one interval,but when you watch it on TV we get unlimited intervals. I wonder why the National Film Corporation is turning a blind eye to these issues.The credits and all other issues can be telecast before the film is shown, thereby preserving the dignity of the movie.
The dream of a film archive has been a dream for several decades and it is time film producers joined hands to protect their films for the future generation. Nobody should be allowed to dominate the scene in the name of preserving films.The National Film Corporation has a big role to play in the regard.
As a film producer I know how much of effort goes into making a film and the extent of vision that goes into the creation of each and every frame. The cinematographer takes great pains to extract the best frame. We never made films to be shown on television. But most of the films that are telecast on TV today are not the ones we watched in the past.