A group of students are seeking the most creative ways to capture the beauty of Indonesia, including its flora and fauna.
Liga Film Indie dan Fotografi, or Lifidentra, a group of indie filmmakers and photographers at the University of Indonesia, held on Sept. 30 a one-day seminar themed Creative Indonesia: Homemade Art Work at the campus Japanese Studies Center in Depok, West Java.
The event opened with the documentary film, Beautiful Indonesia, showing various dances by Indonesian ethnic groups. It was followed by a performance of a vocal group from SMA 6 high school singing national folk songs.
The seminar was held in two sessions; the first on photography and the second on film.
Budhi Ipoeng, a lecturer and owner of the Tjap Budhi: Ipoeng photography school, said that published photos of Indonesia has long stood in international photography due to the available range of unique and ethnic objects with various beautiful dances, amazing natural views, unique architecture and lots of one-of-a-kind flora and fauna as well as delicious culinary traditions.
"The invention of the digital camera has made people fall in love with photography and with taking pictures easily," said Audy Mirza Alwi, an Antara photojournalist.
Audy also added that amateur journalistic digital photos are usually published in news portals or social networking sites.
The changes in the world of photography, both internal and external, have enhanced people's appreciation on the art, said Tantyo Bangun, the chief editor of National Geographic in Indonesia. On the internal side, he said, everyone could be a good photographer as they now have access to learn about photo techniques of famous photographers from books and the Internet.
"As regards external factors, the media have become democratic in the sense that they interact more with readers by taking account of social networking sites," he said.
In the film session, filmmaker Chandra Tanzil pointed out the difference between story movies, news, and documentary films. Movies make freer use of imagination, can be subjective, and may have a message. On the other hand, news shows what really happens in the field, and is much more objective and based on research data. Documentary films embraces all these elements, he said, as they include thorough research and objectivity based on projecting data and facts, while still carrying a storyline and giving certain messages to the viewers.
There was also a talk show with the crew and cast of Meraih Mimpi (A Dream to Achieve), the first Indonesian musical animation movie. Director Nia Dinata said that the movie had been exported to Korea, Singapore and East European countries.
The event was closed by a talk show on Indonesian handicrafts. The speaker was from project madness which design accessories, such as necklaces, bracelets and bags from batik and other ethnic and national clothes and materials.
"I hope this event can strengthen a good self image for young people and encourage them to love this country even more by being creative in showing off the beauty of Indonesia to the rest of the world," said Vega, the project officer of the event.
Prita Nur Aini
Student of Archaeology Studies
University of Indonesia
