FEA committed to protecting cinema halls and producers

The Film Exhibitors Association (FEA) recently submitted a series of proposals to the National Film Corporation (NFC) in a bid to ease the major impact triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the eventual losses caused to the country’s cinema industry. “At the inception we requested the NFC for financial support and they promptly came forward to pay a grant of Rs. 50,000 and a further Rs. 50,000 as a loan for all Rithma circuit cinemas. This request was mainly done to safeguard our workforce in cinema halls,” FEA President Anuradha B. Rekewa told Daily Mirror Life Impulse. The FEA requested the NFC to extend this facility to all cinema halls in the country, but it said the sums were paid from the 10% collected as the NFC Rithma circuit share. The FEA then wrote to the other main film circuits to follow the example set by the NFC but only the EAP film circuit obliged, though the circuits have been collecting this circuit share of 10% for more than 20 years, Mr. Rekewa said, The FEA also contacted projected suppliers to extend their annual warranty period to be extended for the closed period and supplies of BARCO and CHRISTIE. They have already agreed and this is an encouraging move as cinemas after digitalization pay a heavy sum to maintain modern equipment. “We the FEA are the sole representatives of the cinemas and our objective is to safeguard the film industry’s main stakeholders (cinema hall operators and producers). We have also made a suggestion to maximize the income of producers by reducing the distribution commission. The FEA requests the government and NFC to grant redress to the already battered Sri Lankan cinema industry and we wish to share our expertise when making such policy decisions, he said.