MACTA on the verge of splitting

The Federation of Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA), comprising 360 members, is finally nearing a split. A meeting of the representatives of technicians, the directors who have resigned from MACTA, Film Distributors' Association and Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, held in Kochi on Tuesday, decided to float a new organisation soon.

The future course of action and structure of the new organization will be finalized in the next meeting to be held next week, said former MACTA Federation president K. Madhu. The new federation will have 19 associations of the industry.

"Those associated with the industry were like a family. Many successful and good films were born out of friendship in the industry. But MACTA brought trade unionism into the industry which resulted in these problems. What we need is an air of friendship, not trade unionism. If anybody comes up with a new forum which adopts a friendly attitude with the association, the association will join hands with them," said Producers' Association president Suresh Kumar.

Earlier, around 30 film directors, including Satyan Anthikad, Sreenivasan, Priyadarshan, Ranjit, Lal Jose, Rafi Mecartin, Siddiq, Joshi and Fasil resigned from the MACTA following a verbal clash between the association members during the meeting held to resolve the Dileep-Thulasidas issue which still remain unresolved. The Producers' Association has decided not to have any dealings with those who do not cooperate with it.