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span class="inline inline-left">JP/Ika KrismantariIt was the great Vladimir Lenin that brought Daniel Rudi Haryanto to film.

Once an aspiring painter, Rudi swerved toward the world of film after reading Lenin, who wrote: “the most important of the arts is cinema”.

With the intent to test Lenin’s words, Rudi applied to the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) in 1998 and chose a film major.

Rudi, who has many talents in the arts, from painting and poetry to dance and music, realized that Lenin was right. “Canvas cannot accommodate all my ideas and anxieties, while video can,” said Rudi, who studied at the Yogyakarta High School of the Arts (SMSR).

After discovering that cinema is the strongest art, Rudi decided to make the most of it and try and serve society.

For that noble reason, Rudi deliberately chose documentaries as his focus.

“I love documentaries because they draw me to [create] room for dialogue in society,” Rudi told The Jakarta Post at his small studio in Tebet, South Jakarta.

Sporting a black shirt and jeans, the 33-year-old looked very casual that afternoon. Yet, Rudi is serious, only his outfit and a shocking bandana tied over his short hair helped to ease the tense expression on his face.

During the interview, Rudi, who was involved in the student movements that toppled the New Order in 1998, talked about his ambition to create a better society.

It is a mix of obsession with the public good and the belief in the power of cinema that has spurred Rudi to create a number of eye-opening documentaries that aim for a better society.

One is the spectacular Prison and Paradise, a feature-length documentary on terrorism that has reaped praise and won awards at international film festivals across the globe.

With the world premier at the respected Dubai International Film Festival, the film recently snatched the best director award at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.

Bringing up the painful memory of the first Bali bombing, the film has been lauded for having a different approach to terrorism.

The 93-minute film uses family perspectives to explain the ramifications of the terrorist attack, which impacted the lives of the children of the perpetrators and the victims.

Rudi chose that angle after discovering that some of the victims were Muslim families.

He also found a correlation between both the victims and the bombing convicts’ children, all who lost family members.

“The suicide bombs gave them both a bleak future,” Rudi said, adding that he hoped people would think twice before participating in terrorist acts after seeing the film.

In addition to a global tour, Rudi and his production team are also screening the film in 37 cities in
Indonesia in the hopes of building a new understanding of the impact of terrorism on society.

It is a dream of a terrorism-free society that makes Rudi risk everything for the public to enjoy the film.

“I spent seven years and all my savings on this project. I am really broke now,” said the man, who is planning a sequel to Prison and Paradise set to be released next year.

Yet, having spent all his money and energy is not enough, Rudi has had to deal with threats, including from the authorities and others.

Born a Muslim but growing up Christian, the fourth child in a pluralistic family has faced negative responses from some in Muslim communities who believe the film goes against Islam’s values.

Rudi told the Post he has also had to deal with the intelligence body, which accused him of vilifying
Indonesia through a global forum by mentioning the country as a terrorist state in the film.

He has also received opposition from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who deemed the film too dangerous for public consumption due to its explicit content about terrorist teachings.

Yet, the man, who is accustomed to being attacked for his critical views, responds to all with the cold shoulder. This courage seems to come from Rudi’s experiences in dealing with threats from the authorities since his youth.

The police once nabbed a young Rudi for protesting a new curriculum, resulting in him being expelled from high school and blacklisted from all Yogyakarta educational institutions in the early 1990s.

A painting exhibition Rudi held was banned on allegations that his works disturbed public order.

Rudi was also a student activist, who risked his life to try and change the government during the reform era. With such experiences, there is no reason for Rudi to fear any danger from making a documentary about terrorism.

“I feel more afraid of a metromini, kopaja or bajaj that could strike me anytime rather than from [discussing] terrorism,” Rudi said.

Hailing from a middle-class family in Semarang, Central Java, Rudi has been a critic since junior high.

At that time, Rudi read Sukarno’s controversial book Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi (Under the Flag of the Revolution). He also read banned books on Marxism and communism thanks to his two student activist brothers, who strongly influenced Rudi’s way of thinking.

Apart from his leftist beliefs, Rudi is also a man who believes in the power of prayer.

All the things that he has accomplished in his life are the answer to his and his parents’ prayers, he said.

Rudi remembered a prayer from his great grandfather for him to be able to explore other places and earn life experience. Now, Rudi feels that prayer has come true after he has traveled around the world to screen his documentary at international film festivals. “I get so many things from praying,” he said.

At the start of the interview, Rudi introduced himself as the one and only Indonesian documentary director with an activist background, but he is also a one-of-a-kind leftist who likes to pray.