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Jakarta Film Week 2023: A celebration of genres and the enduring power of cinema
From immigrant romance to acclaimed body horrors, this year's edition of Jakarta Film Week drew in the city's cinephiles by screening different genres for different tastes.
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Joining the festivities: Jakarta's moviegoers visiting Jakarta Film Week 2023 take photos with the cast and crew of Indonesian family drama 'Budi Pekerti’, which was screened as the opening film of the festivity at CGV Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 25. Jakarta Film Week 2023 took place at CGV Grand Indonesia, Galeri Indonesia Kaya and Kineforum Taman Ismail Marzuki until Oct. 29. (Courtesy of Jakarta Film Week/-)
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or the previous edition of Jakarta Film Week, its center of interest was predominantly about how to bridge arthouse features with the sophisticated-thinking youth of Jakarta. Hence, feature films atypically found in commercial theaters such as Indonesia's Galang and Thailand's Arnold is a Model Student were the main draw of the festivity.
For this year's edition of Jakarta Film Week, however, the ethos was altogether different.
The diversity in genres among the participating films this year was unmistakable, from the United States immigrant romance Past Lives to the Malaysian social comedy La Luna. Many visiting cinephiles clamored for a photograph with visiting Japanese horror auteur Takashi Shimizu whose most recent flick, Sana, was also screened in this year's Jakarta Film Week. Meanwhile, a huge line of moviegoers was ecstatic to watch the Cannes-breakout body horror Tiger Stripes.
According to festival director Rina Damayanti, Jakarta Film Week 2023 was exactly that – a celebration of genre films. Taking place at CGV Grand Indonesia, Galeri Indonesia Kaya and Kineforum Taman Ismail Marzuki from Oct. 25 to 29, the film festival aimed to build on the success of its previous edition.
"Our program [this year] is more colorful. That and, of course, better in terms of quality," she told The Jakarta Post on the final day of the festivity.
"We have understood better about what we truly wish to contribute to the film industry. We have grown more confident and more assured. This is what is needed. This is what we must do."
