Star Cineplex urges government to save cinemas
Star Cineplex also presented its seven-point demand at the programme in the capital.
Star Cineplex has urged the government to reopen all the cinemas and provide necessary help to the sector for saving the film industry of Bangladesh.
Star Cineplex, the first ever state-of-the-art multiplex in Bangladesh, made the urge at a press conference on Wednesday.
It also presented its seven-point demand at the programme in the capital.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The demands include announcement of emergency financial assistance or stimulus package, withdrawal of all kinds of VAT and tax on tickets, giving loans without any interest, permission of importing movies of the languages of this subcontinent without any condition, waiving 50 percent rent of the Star Cineplex branches at different shopping malls during the pandemic and lastly, releasing the movies, which have got the censor clearances.
"When almost all the businesses, including shopping malls, restaurants, international flights and tourism sector, have started to run, only movie houses are closed. This is very frustrating for us. Modern multiplex cinemas can be a very good example of running activities following social distances properly. Here a few numbers of people buy tickets for some fixed seats to see movies," said the press release.
Meanwhile, many countries, including China, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia, have reopened their cinemas. India is also supposed to reopen its movie houses this month. Not only this, many countries are giving financial aids to entertainment industry to get over the losses. The United States Senate has passed the bill of providing the affected sectors, including movie theatres, with $2 trillion. Besides, the Ministry of Culture of France has allocated five billion euros while the UK has given $2 billion to this sector, according to the press release.
"The backbone of the film industry is movie houses. If the movie theatres fail to survive, the film industry will die. So we appeal to the government to reopen the cinemas as soon as possible," the authorities of the Star Cineplex said.
