Iqbal, a civil servant, said he looked forward to watching The Damned United at the 11th Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest).
"The film sounds interesting. It's about a football manager recruited by a team he hates. I love football and I would like to watch this kind of film," he said.
Iqbal said that only at events like the JiFFest could he expect to watch such a unique film.
"The theaters in Jakarta show mostly commercial fare, usually horror or comedy," he said.
Iqbal said he appreciated JiFFest's promotion of non-mainstream films.
"There are even films about mualaf *converts from Islam* and Iranian President Ahmadinejad. These films are rarely shown in city theaters," he said.
Fika ,24, also found the films on offer at JiFFest tempting.
"I really wanted to see Sang Pemimpi *The Dreamer* and New York I Love you, but screenings of both are by invitation only," she grumbled.
The two films are the festival's opening and the closing films. The festival committee only gives tickets to these films to its media partners and sponsors.
Fika said the festival offered a refreshing change from mainstream films.
"The festival is known for showing high-quality films. I'm bored with the usual formulas in mainstream films," she said. "I want to see films which show me new perspectives and cultural values. I want films that show the reality rather than the glamor of life shown in most Indonesian films."
Nauval Yazid, the festival manager, said Iqbal and Fika were the kind of viewers targeted for the festival.
"We target educated viewers between the ages of 21 and 35 who want to see non-mainstream films," he said.
"We go to film festivals in other countries and pick the films we deem artistic. Other film festival committees also often suggest which films to screen," Nauval explained.
He expressed optimism of JiFFest's audience numbers, which had been increasing every year.
According to the JiFFest web site, box office sales have been growing steadily since 2002.
"We sold 70 percent of the tickets before the festival began," Nauval said, adding that 46,000 tickets were sold this year.
The festival is being held in Blitz Megaplex in Grand Indonesia Mall, Jakarta, from Dec. 4-12, and will screen 114 films from 24 countries. There are also 15 films participating in the Indonesian feature film competition organized by the festival committee.
The competition juries are Norwegian film producer Byrnjar Bjerkem, international film festival activist Laura Coppens, and Lighthouse Pictures founder Thomas Chia.
More festival information can be found at www.jiffest.org. (mrs).
