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Stripping film industry to its bare essentials
This year the door opens even wider for the Indonesian film industry to be recognized at the international level
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This year the door opens even wider for the Indonesian film industry to be recognized at the international level.
Several Indonesian films qualified to be screened at acclaimed international film festivals like the Asian Hot Shot Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Clermont Ferrand Film Festival and others. It seems that finally the world has set its eye upon the Indonesian film industry.
One particular film festival, the Asian Hot Shot Film Festival 2009 in Berlin, Germany, even dedicated this year's theme and focus on the Indonesian film industry.
Asian Hot Shot Film Festival Berlin is well-known as the biggest film festival that features movies from all over Asia. In 2009 they screened more than 50 films from China, Korean, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Pakistan and Thailand.
From Jan. 13-19, German movie buffs got the rare chance to watch 20 Indonesian short and feature length films in Babylon Kino-Berlin, Germany. But why focus on Indonesia?
"German society has never really known what exactly Indonesian films are like. Besides Garin Nugroho's film that was screened in Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), the movie goers here have little knowledge about Indonesia's place in the Asian film industry," Laura Gerber, one of the festival's directors told The Jakarta Post during the festival opening.
"We only know films from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand and have never heard of Indonesian films, which actually feature high quality, diversified stories and the industry itself has had an interesting development over its history. That's why we decided to put the focus on the Indonesian film industry, so that our audience could catch a wonderful glimpse of what Indonesia really is."
A stage performance Time Floating on Fire opens the Asian Hot Shot Film Festival in Berlin (JP/Meninaputri W)
To mark its theme, the festival opened with an art collaboration between Germany and Indonesia which presented Batu Melingkar Api (Time Floating on Fire), a stage performance by Katia Engel (dancer/artist) and Faozan Rizal (filmmaker/cinematographer).
Laura is also in charge of the programs from South East Asia since her anthropologist background focused on the region. Laura is not alone; the other festival director, Tina Lange, focuses on the Indian film industry and has a background in theater.
Maria Romer has set her eyes upon the Japanese film industry, as her major's thesis focuses on Japanese culture and the fact that she is half Japanese and half German. These three women met at another film festival and shared the same passion toward Asian films, eventually deciding to hold their own festival.
However, it is not easy executing a grand plan. "Funding has always been the big problem for us. And I'm sure every other festival in the world, even Berlinale in their early years, faced the same problem. This time our festival was to bring five Indonesian films in 35mm format. Each film cost 800 euro (US$1,032) to deliver safely. Luckily we were supported by the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin and the Goethe Institute in Indonesia that helped us with the administrative and financial problems," said Laura.
Yet, as only their second year, Asian Hot Shot Film Festival 2009 has managed more than 5,000 audience members after kicked off. Even the tickets for many Indonesian films like Quickie Express and Kuldesak were sold out before the screening days.
This year, there are also two Indonesian films in Asian Hot Shot Film Festival 2009 Berlin that were chosen to compete for a Green Chilies Award - Djenar Maesa Ayu's Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet (They Call Me A Monkey) and Edwin's short film Hullahoop Soundings.
Besides the films themselves, a discussion with Indonesian filmmakers was also held so Berlin movie buffs could get a first-hand account of the growth of the Indonesian film industry and how the industry was revived in the wake of Indonesia's political turmoil during 1997-1998.
" The reformation era in our country opened many doors for the film industry. I remember having a Kuldesak shooting in 1996 at night to avoid a police raid.
" Panel speakers included Riri Riza (director of box-office film Laskar Pelangi, Rainbow Warrior), Mira Lesmana (Laskar Pelangi producer) and Edwin (director of Babi Buta Ingin Terbang, A blind pig that wants to fly).
"The reformation era in our country opened many doors for the film industry. I remember having a Kuldesak (a film directed by Riri Riza, Nan T Achnas, Rizal Mantovani and Mira Lesmana) shooting in 1996 at night to avoid a police raid.
During those times, if you wanted to make a movie, you had to submit your script to the authorities first and then they gave you the rights. So the four of us decided to do it quietly, so that we can make the film as we've always wanted to," said Riri.
"But now, things seem to be considerably easier. Young filmmakers like Edwin are encouraged to make movies, even with themes that are considered taboo (such as sex, racism and politics) without having to submit their scripts to the government first."
"Yet, we still face lots of problems, especially from the censors and ridiculous laws like the anti-porn one, not too mention religious organizations in our country."
Things have changed now and many filmmakers in Asia consider the environment for the Indonesian film industry to be much more conducive than theirs. "I don't fully agree with that. The uncertainty of censorship in our country, as well as having limited screens and exhibitors are just a few things that we still need to face.
We don't even have a film funding organization that is supported by our government such as in the Philippines or Singapore. We don't even have art-house cinemas to screen our films, since now we only have two exhibitors which are not well equipped, like in other Asian countries. There's a lot of homework that still needs to be done if we want to survive and march toward a better future," Riri said.
Mira supported Riri's argument by saying, "the survival of the Indonesian film industry sometimes comes from very illogical factors. You can never know or guess what will happen next.
For example, in our film, we needed a shaman to do a blessing ceremony, so that the rain didn't ruin our set. I don't believe in such things, but many times it worked and saved our time."
The festival also presented a panel discussion on censorship in Asia, focusing on Indonesia. The participants and audience heard from John Badalu (Q! Film Festival Indonesia), Li Yifan (Chinese filmmaker), Omar Ali Khan (Pakistani filmmaker) and Kiri Dalena (Filipino film activist) about the real situation of censorship in Asian countries.
