KUALA LUMPUR: Director Adrian Teh – whose next film is the action-packed Malbatt: Misi Bakara – is now in France, taking part in the Cannes Film Festival's Marche Du Film.
At this event, film industry professionals present their films to potential buyers.
However, one big problem involving the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) has annoyed Teh.
Teh, the director of Paskal, Wira and The Assistant, lamented on Instagram last Sunday that there was no poster of his potential blockbuster at the Finas exhibition booth.
"I decided to "tag along" with Finas instead of going alone.
"However, upon arrival at the venue, I realised that the poster of Bakara was missing from the Finas booth."
"Bakara is one of Malaysia's highest-budget movies, backed by the largest cinema chain, the strongest TV station, and even the Malaysian Army. It has the potential to be a blockbuster!
"If buyers decide to buy it and they discover that my movie poster was absent from the Finas pavilion's wall, what impression would they have of us?"
Teh was also frustrated with the reason provided by the Finas representative at Cannes as to why his poster was not included.
"I recall having a conversation with him on that day regarding the design of Finas' booth for Cannes.
"At no point did he inform me that my movie poster might not be printed for the booth."
He compared Finas' booth to other country representatives at Marche Du Film and lamented that all of them displayed the posters of their latest films.
"Finas didn't do its job to promote the newest Malaysian film."
Bakara, the story of Malaysia's peacekeeping soldiers in Somalia in 1993, will premiere in August in cinemas nationwide.
It stars Bront Palarae, Shaheizy Sam, Hairul Azreen and Gaddafi Ismail Sabri.