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The group is the first of 5,000 Myanmar citizens that Kuala Lumpur says agreed to “voluntary” repatriation from detention centres amid a huge uptick in anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.

Both the UN and advocacy organisations voiced concern on Tuesday, saying the group could face a dangerous homecoming in Myanmar, where a civil war has raged since 2021.

Neither Malaysia nor Myanmar have officially clarified the number of Rohingya people in the first group, and there is worry they may be returned to a country where they face persecution rights groups say amounts to genocide. The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, make up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, according to the UN.

Many of the Rohingya escaped to Malaysia during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

On Tuesday afternoon, AFP reporters saw three ships belonging to the Myanmar navy, used in a previous repatriation exercise, departing from Malaysia’s Lumut naval base. The Myanmar nationals were processed at the naval base before boarding dozens of buses which arrived under police escort at the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung stadium.

Malaysia’s interior ministry confirmed that the repatriations were under way.

It said it a statement that the repatriation was part of the government’s plan to resolve the “legacy issue” of foreign asylum-seekers in Malaysia – of which it said 95% were from Myanmar.

“This long-standing issue has imposed a significant financial burden on the nation, triggered serious social crises, and created tangible security threats for the Malaysian people,” the statement said.

But in Geneva, the UN rights chief, Volker Turk, urged Malaysia to stop the process immediately, saying nobody should be deported to Myanmar, given the severity of the situation on the ground.

“This is no time to return anyone forcibly to a country plagued by egregious human rights violations and abuses, and where many cruelly face the real risk of more of the same violence again upon their return,” he said in a statement.

“The conditions are far from safe and sustainable, and it is deeply questionable whether any return in these circumstances can be considered truly voluntary.

“The hundreds of thousands who have fled Myanmar in fear for their lives must be protected, and their fundamental human rights to seek asylum and protection abroad properly considered.”

The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, announced in July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya. The plan was announced after authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency’s office in Kuala Lumpur.

They were seeking help after being threatened with eviction from an informal settlement in northern Penang state. They were later released after officials confirmed they held valid UN documentation.

Myanmar earlier this month pledged “safe and dignified” returns for its citizens displaced abroad, after criticism from the UN and rights groups.

Last week more than 160 civil society groups in a joint statement called upon the Malaysian government to “immediately halt the deportations,” pending talks with civil organisations about the situation on the ground in Myanmar.

Malaysia, which shelters one of Southeast Asia’s biggest refugee populations, is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status. %!s()

The Creatives consists of some of the leading production companies in Europe, as well as one each in Israel and the U.S. They are Haut et Court and Unité in France, Komplizen and Razor Film in Germany, the U.K.’s Good Chaos, Lemming Film in Netherlands and Belgium, Maipo Film in Norway, Spiro in Israel and the U.S.’s Masha.

Led by Sébastien Raybaud, Anton’s projects include “In Love,” starring George Clooney and Annette Bening; “Pumping Black,” starring Jonathan Bailey and Natalie Portman; and the crime thriller “My Darling California,” featuring Jessica Chastain, Chris Evan, Chris Pine, Mikey Madison and Don Cheadle.

Anton’s investment in The Creatives reinforces the financial strength of the group and provides additional access to equity financing. The Creatives will be formally created at closing, following technical steps expected to take a few months.

Bessi brings three decades of experience in production, distribution and broadcasting, having built two international studios in Newen Studios/Studio TF1, which he led as chairman and CEO within the TF1 Group until 2024, and Studiocanal, where he served as group COO. Prior to this, he served as CFO for the Canal+ channels in France and CEO for Canal+ in the Nordics.

Speaking with Variety, Bessi said this consolidated company was “always the point.”

“Five years ago, all of these producers decided that, because they didn’t want anyone to buy them out and they wanted to share their expertise and contacts, they would create a form of club, where they would informally meet every month and co-produce together,” he added. “They have now been doing this very successfully for years, and they decided that, because it was working so well, they would become a group.”

“But they didn’t know how to do it, which is when they reached out to me,” he said. “Of course, creating a group costs money, so during the last year and a half I was structuring the group and looking for an investor to bring some money into the holding company.”

Bessi said it took over a year to find Anton. The Creatives had several other offers, but they had a number of strict demands for whoever would come in as a financial partner. “We wanted a European investor, not only because of the perception, but also because of regulation. They had to be European; they had to be someone who understands the industry—meaning that you can have good years and bad years, and you need to take some risk. That was very important.”

Finding the investor was “not so easy,” because the model built by The Creatives is “very new in the industry.” All 17 producers in the group are shareholders and control the group. “It’s very unique. Usually, you have one person or company who gets the shares and the control. Because of that, some investors were a bit concerned about the governance of the group,” Bessi said.

“We wanted someone who would agree to take a minority stake and would not require distribution or sales,” he added. “Then, of course, there was a valuation, which was important for the producers, and we wanted someone who would respect that valuation. Lastly, we needed someone we knew, and I knew Anton very well because it was created 15 years ago, to implement a state financing deal for Studiocanal. At that time, I was the CEO.”

In the end, the producers decided in favor of Anton. Now, all agreements are signed, and The Creatives are “ready to go.”

By “ready to go,” Bessi means realizing the group’s vision of becoming the leading “one-stop-shop” production company in Europe for major distributors and streamers. The exec sees The Creatives as the place where these companies can have access to “elevated content and festival movies and series.”

“When they come to us, they suddenly have access to many talents, many projects out of many European countries,” he said. “It offers a wide diversity of very good foreign content. We have the scale of the group now. It’s strong enough and financially reliable, so it can be a very interesting one-stop shop for major companies instead of them going country by country to work with these leading producers.”

“Our goal is to accelerate and enhance the model so we can allow the producers to develop the project they want to develop, be ready, take more risks, gather the best talent and use each other’s connections,” he emphasized. “We want these people to do what they do best: to produce and attract talent.”

Work produced by The Creatives has drawn over 140 awards at major festivals and awards ceremonies worldwide, including a Cannes Palme d’Or and a Venice Grand Jury Prize, alongside multiple Academy Award nominations and wins.

Signature lead-produced titles include Komplizen’s Oscar-nominated “Toni Erdmann”; Haut et Court’s Palme d’Or winner “The Class”; Good Chaos’ “Sisu” films, which both topped global streaming charts; Spiro’s Venice Grand Jury Prize winner “Foxtrot”; Razor Film’s Oscar-nominated “Waltz With Bashir”; Maipo Film’s Canneseries winner “A Better Man”; Unité’s multi-César winner “Souleymane’s Story”; Masha’s hit series “False Flag”; and Lemming Film’s six-time Dutch Academy Award winner “Sweet Dreams.” %!s()