Singapore-based Cathay-Keris Films has inked a distribution deal with Variety View, a new distribution start-up in Malaysia, for 230 titles from its Cathay Classics library.Under the terms of the deal, worth close to $1m, the Malaysian company holds worldwide rights for theatrical, pay and free TV, DVD and other distribution platforms for five years, up to 2012.Titles in the package include Chinese-language classics Mambo Girl, Wild Wild Rose, Sun Moon Star and Her Tender Heart, as well as Malay classics Dang Anom, Hang Jebat, Sumpah Pontianak and Orang Minyak.'The Cathay-Keris classic titles may be considered, for this region, equivalent to the great Hollywood vintage movies. Some of our titles have great potential to be re-made, similar to what has been done with some Hollywood classics and closer to home, Pontianak and Puteri Gunong Ledang,' said Suhaimi Rafdi, president of business operations, Cathay Organisation.Some 350 films were produced mainly in the 1950s and 1960s during Cathay's golden age, through its Malay film studios, Singapore's Cathay-Keris Films and its Hong Kong film studios, MP&GI. Most of the films in the library have been digitally re-mastered to European broadcast standards except for some titles which are beyond saving and some like the original two Pontianak series which are lost.

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