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Jakarta Post

sinedu.id - Online platform for education

(Courtesy of sinedu

A. Kurniawan Ulung (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, May 31, 2016

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sinedu.id - Online platform for education

(Courtesy of sinedu.id)

Having a critical audience matters for some filmmakers in the country.

Neither popcorn machines nor padded chairs were available at Menteng Park in Central Jakarta recently. Under the moonlight, dozens of junior high school students, clad in their white-and-blue uniforms, sat on the ground enjoying the free outdoor movie screening there.

They exploded with laughter upon watching a scene depicting students cheating on an exam in the short film Lembar Jawaban Kita (The Exam), which tells the story of an elementary school student whose honesty is tested when taking an exam in his classroom.   

The screening took place during the launch of sinedu — which stands for Sinema Edukasi (Education Cinema) — an online platform that provides films for helping children study.

“Through sinedu, teachers, students and parents can watch films that have been curated and they can use modules as guidelines for discussions,” said psychologist Najelaa Shihab, who founded sinedu with scriptwriter Gina S. Noer and director Angga Dwimas Sasongko.

Angga said it took the trio two months to prepare the platform. On the website sinedu.id, teachers and parents can access the films for free through online streaming and can download the modules.

“Parents or teachers just need to open the website and sign up. Afterward, they will get a code and then they can use it [to watch the films],” Angga said.

Education talk: Film director Angga Sasongko (right) talks about Sinedu during the ASEAN Literary Festival in Jakarta recently as other speakers, (from left) writer Okky Madasari, scriptwriter Gina S. Noer and psychologist Najelaa Shihab look on.

At present, Gina says, sinedu provides only one long film, Angga’s Cahaya Dari Timur: Beta Maluku (Light from East: I’m Maluku), and three short films, namely Sofyana Ali’s Lembar Jawaban Kita, Misyatun’s Lawuh Boled (Cassava Dish) and Aditya Ahmad’s Sepatu Baru (New Shoes).    

However, in the near future, more films will be added as other filmmakers have promised Gina that they will allow her to feature their works on the platform for free.

“We have met with [film producers] Mira Lesmana, Sheila Timothy, Shanty Harmayn, Salman Aristo and others. They really support us,” she said, adding that inviting them to join was not a hard nut to crack.

Although films provided by sinedu are not fresh from the oven, what distinguishes them is the availability of modules.

“In the modules, we explain the context of the filmmakers’ works and real-life situations that are related to the film,” Gina said, adding that they also revealed behind-the-scenes information that people were probably yet to know.  

The modules, Najelaa said, would stimulate the audience to think and to ask critical questions because an effective learning process always started from a question and ended with new questions.  

“A film is an effective tool for learning. The most exciting thing [about watching film] is that although the audience watch the same film, they will have different experiences and perceptions,” she said, adding that students, teachers and parents could discuss these differences.

After the discussion, they can give sinedu feedback.

“There will be interaction between the audience and filmmakers and this will enrich the learning process,” said Najelaa. “We want them to get involved.”

In Cahaya dari Timur, for example, Gina said, she was really curious to observe students’ discussion about the religious conflict that once happened in Ambon and how soccer solved it, since sport can bridge gaps between people who embrace different religions.    

“We choose Cahaya dari Timur not because it is from Visinema Pictures [Angga’s production house],” she said of the film named Best Picture at the 2014 Indonesia Film Festival.

Through the feedback, audience members could also propose what movies they wanted to see uploaded to sinedu, said Gina, who won Best Screenplay for her work in romantic drama Habibie & Ainun in FFI 2013.

Najelaa is open to the possibility of sinedu at a later date featuring films and creating modules to critically discuss sensitive issues in the country, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues and the Sept. 30 Movement.

“We don’t need to be afraid of films or of thoughts and ideas. We can use a film as a tool to give us and our children the capability to filter, understand and discuss [information]. That skill will make them a better and stronger generation,” said Gina.

Angga, who considers film to be a time capsule, said sinedu was home to Indonesian films of all genres and his team would classify them according to students’ level of competence.

“For instance, the dramatization of films that senior high school students can watch is more complex than that of elementary school students,” said the director of friendship-themed film Filosofi Kopi (Coffee Philosophy).

For Angga, sinedu can be an alternative non-commercial film distribution. He featured the three short films to attract the attention of wider audiences because as far as he observes, they were appreciated by critics only in festivals.

In 2014, Sepatu Baru won a Special Mention award at the Berlinale International Film Festival in Germany and Lawuh Boled won Best Short Film at the South to South Film Festival in Jakarta. Meanwhile, in 2015, Lembar Jawaban Kita won the Best Cinema award at the West Java Film Festival (FFJB) in Bandung, West Java.

According to Gina, sinedu’s modules have been tried at two schools, namely Cikal School in Cilandak, South Jakarta, and senior high school SMAK 1 Penabur in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta.

For Angga, Indonesia is already full of smart people who are discerning enough to choose films that they consider worthy and beneficial. With the modules and discussions, sinedu aims to maintain this trend.    

“By having a critical audience, filmmakers will get sparring partners. So, they will be challenged to make better films,” he said. “Without a critical audience, filmmakers can just make whatever they want to.”

— Photos by A.Kurniawan Ulung

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