Producer Manoj Punjabi (right) from MD Entertainment and director Garin Nugroho at a discussion on movie-making. (Antara/Teresia May)

Filmmakers and producers meet enthusiasts for a day full of short movies.

The seventh L.A. Lights Indiemovie Festival was a little bit more than just a movie screening. It continued to support the indie scene with workshops on screenwriting and talent casting for the public.

Producer Manoj Punjabi believes that the country’s movie-making potential is largely untapped.  

“We still have another 90 percent of Indonesian film industry’s ‘cake’, which remains intact. So, we really need a lot of human resources here,” said Manoj, the producer of hit Habibie & Ainun.

The workshop-based event was held in Jakarta on Thursday at Taman Ismail Marzuki and in Bandung on Saturday. It is scheduled to visit Malang on April 20 and Yogyakarta on April 27.

Manoj said that his biggest obstacle in developing the industry is finding qualified writers.

“There was a time where I had to wait for two months just to get a screenwriter who could make a suitable synopsis for my film project. In the US, you will have a plenty of talented screenwriters, lining up just to be in your project,” he said.  

Booking a record 4.5 million viewers for Habibie & Ainun, Manoj said that making a movie is — technically — quite simple.

“The challenging part is getting a great story. In the business, you are allowed to be as creative as you want and to have any ideas you wish. My slogan is ‘same wine, different bottle’. When you find out the perfect formula, making big box office movies is not a big deal at all,” he added.

Photography director German G. Mintapradja said that his specific ability led to more than just an important role in film production.

“Besides being a director of photography for feature films, my skill has also allowed me to become a camera operator for various projects for CNN, National Geographic and Associated Press,” he said.

German said that he would share tips and reveal that making a movie is easy these days during the workshop.

Auteur director, Garin Nugroho, said that it is important for moviemakers to know how to sell their ideas to public.  

“A filmmaker can earn money by producing artistic or commercial films. [The later ones] mean they will get the profit from ticket sales, corporate social responsibility programs, or other figures from politics, religious leaders,” said Garin.

Program director Ray Nayoan admitted that no filmmaker made a financial profit through an indie movie, including those with international acclaim.

However, producing an independent movie had always been a perfect stepping stone into the business. “An event like this is a great place to learn basic things in film production and to do networking.”

After seven years scouting talent, the festival unearthed some hidden gems. Starting with a short movie project at the festival, screenwriter and director Sammaria Simanjuntak won Best Screenplay in the 2009’s Indonesian Film Festival for cint(T)a and released her first film, Demi Ucok (For Ucok) in January.

Another alumnus, Adhyatmika — his film, Democracy is Yet to Learn, won the Democracy Video Challenge and he got to meet Hillary Clinton, while Jaka Triadi made Undo, screened at Europe Screen 2006.

The 2013’s Indiemovie festival offers workshops on screenwriting, pre-production, production, post-production and actin

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