Cermin Kasih writers discredited: KOMFIT urges FINAS to take action

On October 10, telemovie Cermin Kasih was premiered on TV3.

Starring Shaheizy Sam as Amran and Tiz Zaqyah as Marina, the movie follows the couple’s happy marriage and how things crumbles when Marina discovers Amran’s real job – dealing drugs. Marina wants to break free of the marriage but Amran loves her too much — he drugs Marina to keep her by his side.

All seems well like with any TV3 Cerekarama slot, but a discrepancy in terms of crediting the writers of Cermin Kasih was recently revealed.

According to an official statement by Komuniti Filem Titiwangsa (KOMFIT), the producer and director of Cermin Kasih, Arie Zaharie Production Sdn Bhd and Murali Abdullah respectively credited the screenplay to the director of photography, Mohd Nor Kasim.

The actual writers, K. Adlie, Loqman Al Jefri, and Nor Syafinaz Samsudin were instead credited as script panellist.

To KOMFIT’s understanding, a script panel is formed to aid the original writer in polishing a script or screenplay. A script panel’s task does not officially equate to scriptwriting.

However, the credit of the screenplay should rightfully belong to the scriptwriter, not the cinematographer.

Syafinaz’s explained on Facebook that she was initially not part of Cermin Kasih. When the story proposal was sent to TV3, where it was approved, Adlie asked for Syafinaz’s help to write the script because he has never written one before.

As she was busy at the time, she in turn asked for Loqman’s help. Thus, the three of them began to draft the treatment of the story.

KOMFIT believes that by discrediting the scriptwriters, it robs them of the rights to be recognised for their effort and hard work. The move by Cermin Kasih’s producer and director is seen as unfair and trivialising the work of scriptwriters.

KOMFIT is urging for relevant parties such as the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) and other associations set up to protect the welfare of filmmakers by taking appropriate action in this issue.