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Yusuf Radjamuda: A film director with global prospects
(JP/Ruslan Sangadji)A 7-year-old boy is playing on his own, his confused eyes looking out of the window to the back of his house
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(JP/Ruslan Sangadji) (JP/Ruslan Sangadji)
(JP/Ruslan Sangadji)
A 7-year-old boy is playing on his own, his confused eyes looking out of the window to the back of his house.
The sound of somebody hurling dishes and pans comes from the kitchen, with nobody to be seen. A noisy motorcycle is heard leaving the backyard. A mother washes clothes and hangs them out to dry, while her child plays alone.
This is Halaman Belakang (Backyard), a film created by Yusuf Radjamuda, a young director from Palu, Central Sulawesi. There's no dialogue in this monochrome picture, which is only 11 minutes 36 seconds long. Instead, it relies on visual strength, which has led to it being appreciated in two film events.
'Why in black and white? It's because I wish to make an impression of the character of this film,' Yusuf Radjamuda told The Jakarta Post at the office of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Palu recently.
The short flick depicts a family conflict, depriving the child of the company of his parents at home. According to Yusuf, it's a true story within his family circle. His nephew had to live with his mother when his father abandoned them for six years.
Unsurprisingly, the lead role in this picture is Jay Radjamuda (7), his own nephew who faced the bitter reality of life. Without being overly dramatized like some TV dramas, the story is presented mostly in the way Jay himself experienced it in his undeserved period of abandonment.
Halaman Belakang won the short movie category at this year's Solo Film Festival and Indonesian Film Appreciation. The film is also slated to be shown at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFEST) starting on Nov. 16. Yusuf Radjamuda has even been invited to the Dubai International Film Festival in December.
Yusuf said that one day, when his child named Al and his nephew Jay were playing together, Al called him 'papa' and Jay called him 'om' (uncle), while his father's whereabouts were still unknown.
'At the time I felt something was lost and had gone wrong as they used different forms of address,' he noted.
It seemed Yusuf could sense the subconscious anxiety harbored by Jay, who was actually plagued by worries, loneliness and hesitation despite his apparent joy.
Yusuf began to wonder what life would be like if children were born faced with anxiety and uncertainty.
Jay's father finally returned to Palu in early 2012. In the same year, Yusuf decided to make Halaman Belakang and ask Jay to join, although at first he didn't have the heart to do so.
'Jay is now more cheerful even if his father's homecoming can't compensate for the several years of absence. Jay's character in this movie portrays the lost years, with only 25 percent direction, leaving the better part for natural acting,' said Yusuf.
Yusuf has directed eight films, including Cuma Lima Ribu (Just Five Thousand), which won the best story title in the Short Film Jamboree in Jakarta in 2012. It's about the solidarity of street children.
The other is Wrong Day, criticizing the police through dialogue, which was a Ladrang Award nominee at Solo Film Festival Film 2011, the best film at Malang Film Festival 2011, an Indonesian Film Festival 2011 special award recipient and which earned him an invitation to Goethe Institut, Germany.
His Matahari (The Sun) describes Palu residents' complaints about the region's hot weather and frequent outages without any consideration to utilize the sun as a source of power supply. It won the animation category at Short Film Festival 2013 and a special award at Lock Fest 2013 in Yogyakarta.
Yusuf Radjamuda, born in Tanjung Padang, Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, on May 7, 1979, is a civil servant and a self-taught filmmaker without cinematographic training. As a child, the husband of Rugaiyah Albaar liked watching his older brother's photo slides that were brought from Canada.
When he was a junior and senior high school student, Yusuf was a Hong Kong and Indian film enthusiast. As recent as 2006 he accidentally found a short film, Harap Tenang Ada Ujian! (Be quiet, exam!), a 3-minute film on the Internet.
Yusuf was thus inspired to make films. His first production was Sahabat dan Harapan (Friends and Hope), a 13-minute flick about two school dropouts who have to part because one of them has got a sponsor for his school fees.
Yusuf said short films in Palu were favored by the waning movie theater business in the city in 2000, which was followed by short film screenings in non-cinema buildings.
In 2009, a local show called Eksebisi Felem Kita (Our Film Exhibition/EFEK) was opened, presenting 15 short movies and making the public accustomed to shorter versions.
In 2011, he cooperated with Mini Nemubuku Library, owned by Muhammad Isnaeni, a librarian from Palu, to start screening and discussing short and long movies on a regular basis. 'We've since been actively watching and discussing films and we call this place Friday Theater,' added Yusuf.
'There have always been visitors to the library and the atmosphere is quite intimate with at least six people around, although sometimes the number can reach almost a hundred. On average, the normal rate stands at 15-20 people,' Yusuf concluded.
