Local independent filmmakers must think globally to survive

Italian film director from independent digital production studio Esperimentocinema, Luca Immesi said they also needed to be audacious in experimenting their creativity by playing with both elements.

"This is because viewers are always looking for something unusual instead of the mundane stuff that they usually watch," he said here, Friday.

Earlier, he spoke at the 'Indie Lab: Made In Italy' workshop on the sidelines of the fifth Asia Content Business Summit (ACBS) in conjunction with KL Converge! 2016.

"Movies that portray local elements are very typical now and it is difficult for them to penetrate the international market.

"One of the things we do is to put the story of our movie in precise local places with the use of local languages and to mix together with universal themes as this usually works well," he said.

Immesi who has 15 years of experience in movie production, suggested that local filmmakers emulate their Hong Kong counterparts as they always featured these two elements.

"Hong Kong independent movies are a good example as they often feature global elements such as having French or Italian people as part of the characters in the movie, albeit being shot in their own country," he said.

Immesi said while local independent films here were made more to cater to the local or Asian market, he however expressed his interest to collaborate with Malaysian filmmakers someday.

Immesi who has produced two independent movies, said local indie filmmakers also needed to find a personal style in order to make their movies stand out compared to others.

To achieve this, he said, they should have a good story and strong script since independent movies did not rely on popular movie stars to market their films.