Copyright Pirates of the Caribbean
-Now (not) showing at a cinema near you
Stabroek News
July 2, 2004
The Olympic Cinema in New Amsterdam is one of 16 being sold by owner Muntaz Ali.
The sad slow demise of the cinema industry has taken another step to near oblivion with the closure and intended sale of all sixteen cinemas belonging to Muntaz Ali.
Ali who was once president of the Guyana Film Distributors and Exhibitors Association (GFDEA), now non-operational, said the business had directly suffered at the hands of television pirates and bottom house video shows.
He said those places show the movies before they are even released at the cinemas and this is not fair to owners, who are paying entertainment tax. He is challenging the commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department to say what tax he is collecting from the TV station owners for showing new movies, as against the cinemas that are currently operating. He said the movie, Main Hoon Na that is currently showing at the Drive In cinema was released in late May and he saw it in Toronto. He said the supplier was behind him to buy it, but he refused because of the state of the industry. Sure enough the TV stations in New Amsterdam and Georgetown showed the film on pirated cassettes. He said a case is pending in court right now, where there is an injunction against owners to show the film, Khabi Kushi Khabi Gham but the case is stuck.
Ali says the GFDEA has tried desperately to save the film industry but the copyright laws have still not been passed to protect the cinemas. Owning Global Films and supplying to cinemas throughout the country, Ali still has his heart set on seeing the business flourish again. But for this to happen, he admits the cinemas have to be upgraded to meet the 21st century standards - with air-conditioning, multiple screens, secure parking lots and Nintendo games to attract patrons.
He is quite willing and eager to upgrade, providing the laws are in order, as there is still a need for cinemas as a part of recreation. He said the government recently passed an investment act, which calls for copyright protection but more has to be done to make it a legislative law. That is the only way investors - both local and foreign - would come to set up these cinemas.
Ali who owns 16 cinemas around the country, now has only two operating and said these might close at any time as well. Recently he advertised some of the buildings for sale to pay off loans to banks.
The buildings include the Palm Tree Cinema at Linden, Star Cinema, Albouystown, Metropolitan Cinema, Bartica, Olympic in New Amsterdam, Atma Cinema, D'Edward, West Coast Berbice, Vijay Cinema at Good Hope, Regal at Vreed-En-Hoop, Maya at Skeldon and Roopmahal in Port Mourant.
He says the buildings can be converted to hardware centres, internet cafés, malls, modern restaurants, offices, churches and cultural centres, all of which the Berbice area needs. The buildings can even be extended into two or three storeys.
He recalls the days when 56 cinemas were operating around the country and all the shows used to be sold out. During that time, he said if each show had 200 people that meant 11,200 people were off the street and fewer crimes were committed. And apart from persons enjoying a three-hour show with their families for less than US$1, each cinema provided employment for about 20 persons, including vendors.
While realising that not all the cinemas can be reopened, as some have become obsolete, he says it would be good for the country if at least 20 could be reintroduced.
According to him, the government needs to be more serious where private investment is concerned, as they are pioneers of this country. As the Managing Director of M. Osman & Sons Limited - a sawmill at Rosignol, West Berbice, Ali says even that business is suffering since most people are erecting concrete buildings.
He says there are businessmen who have stuck here and faced all the traumas only to be confronted with dying businesses. "Where do we go?" Ali asks. "We are not like some businessmen who move out funds from the country and expand abroad and then sit high and dry, dictating for Guyana." He says if the government was listening to the private sector call over the years for this protection, cinemas would have still been running.
Ali believes that the level of crimes and child molestation is being caused by the non-censorship of films that TV stations show. "I want to know if the censorship board is still censoring films and if they are, how much and when last?" he asks.
Earlier this year, a lawyer, Mr. Fowler came from the US State Department in Washington and spoke on copyright laws for two days. Fowler said countries that do not adhere to copyright laws would face serious problems, especially since the amnesty on World Trade Organisation ends on December 31, 2004. According to Ali, on January 1, 2005 Guyana could face sanctions from signatory or law abiding countries.
(Shabna Ullah)