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Riri Riza takes Indonesia to Europe
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JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
JAKARTA: After the tremendous success of Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow's Warrior), noted movie director Riri Riza will take center stage at this year's Indonesian Film Festival in Europe.
The festival, themed "Focus on Riri Riza", to be held from May 19 to June 10, will feature six of Riri's movies, which will be played in five European countries - Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Serbia and Germany.
"Of course (I said yes), because the offer came directly from (author and Indonesian Ambassador to Czech Republic) Salim Said. That made me proud because he's such an Indonesian movie hero and I have already read his books many times!" Riri says.
For the festival, Riri will be honored with screenings of his six movies: Laskar Pelangi, Gie, Eliana Eliana, Untuk Rena (For Rena), 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya (Three Days For Forever) and Petualangan Sherina (Sherina's Journey).
Riri dismisses concerns that his movies will attract only Indonesian audiences living in Europe, instead of targeting local viewers.
"We shouldn't worry about things like that. We have our embassy fellows there who already planned a good promotional strategy to attract the (European) viewers," he says. "They even decided to screen the movies in cinemas instead of at the embassy's compounds."
Riri says although the festival might not be a much-anticipated event for Europeans, "people who come and enjoy the movies will be those who have a deep interest in high-quality foreign movies". - JP
