An orchestrated initiative from the government, filmmakers and the film industry has given people living in far-flung regions without a theater the chance to watch movies for free by sending mobile cinemas or setting up makeshift outdoor theaters in the weeks leading up to March 30.

While the movies screened nationwide were selected to fit in with the main theme of “Celebrating Indonesian Diversity,” some film communities have also held free screenings of arthouse works by homegrown talents or classics such as Sjuman Djaya’s 1982 film RA Kartini at Kineforum on Wednesday and the digitalized Bulan di Atas Kuburan (Moon over the Graveyard), a 1973 film directed by Asrul Sani, at selected movie theaters in Jakarta on Thursday.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will open the Film and Art Celebration (FILARTC) exhibition and bazaar on Thursday, the main event of the day. Until April 1, an exhibition will be open at the State Film Company (PFN) building in East Jakarta, show- casing the history of Indonesian films and the industry as well as holding free screenings.

The annual month-long celebrations seem to have had some level of success, as last year Indonesia recorded 34.5 million people going to cinemas to watch Indonesian movies, a jump from 16.2 million in 2015.

Read also: National Film Day to screen films on diversity across Indonesia

For the first time last year there were nine movies with over 1 million viewers each, and the market share of homegrown movies increased to 33 percent from 20 percent in 2015. Although local film’s market share was 56 percent in 2008 and 44 percent in 2009, with two to three new movies released every week so far this year, this upward trend is showing no sign of slowing down.

“Last year the government also completely opened access for foreign investment in film production, distribution and exhibition. With these positive developments, this year marks a new era for the Indonesian film industry. Now is the most exciting time for film people,” said Fauzan Zidni, the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi).

Not only are Indonesian movies reigning at home, but local filmmakers have also received accolades at international film festivals and in foreign markets.

With most eyes now on homegrown movies as the industry is considered the backbone of the creative economy, a question remains: What exactly is an Indonesian film?

“There is yet to be a grand strategy agreed on by all stakeholders in the industry, including the government, on whether the industry will become a spearhead of the national economy or a commodity for the international market or even an agent of change in how we promote the country,” film director Joko Anwar said.

He cited South Korea in the 1990s as an example of how the government, filmmakers and big capital owners were involved in transforming the industry that later became the driving force of the worldwide Korean Wave.

“As a follow up, they incubated talents to write strong scripts as the basic element in film production.”

Acknowledging that the Indonesian film industry was still in its infancy, Joko added that the country’s pluralism and diversity were unique factors that served as a challenge for the industry to find the right formula to create “Indonesian-themed films.”

Read also: Agency shuts down tens of illegal music and film websites

“That is the reason filmmakers tend to produce films with content the public is familiar with, such as adaptions from novels, comics, or remakes of past blockbusters or biopics about renowned figures.

“To ensure the variety of movies, the industry should not be centralized in Jakarta but instead should encourage regional productions,” Joko said.

Fauzan said there were still a lot of obstacles to realizing a thriving national film industry, including the revision of film taxation regulations, which are considered a burden on filmmakers.

“The new regulation is expected to be passed this year, but we haven’t touched on other issues such as archiving and the regulation on distribution and exhibition. There should be a system to ensure that the government conducts a thorough report of the industry annually at least. The latest such report was issued in 2013. Data is paramount to establishing a sustainable ecosystem for our film industry.”

An Indonesian woman was arrested by police and charged with livestreaming from her social media account while in a theater watching

Me vs Mami, an MNC Pictures movie released last October.

Regardless of the length or the quality of the content aired, without legal consent from the owner, articles of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE Law) say digital piracy is a crime punishable by up to nine years in prison.

“Still, such crime could decrease the value of the movie itself. We want to disseminate this information to the public, that it is a crime and punishable by the law,” said film producer and director Angga Dwimas Sasongko.

The Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi), where Angga sits as the head of public policy and advocacy division, recently launched an antipiracy campaign together with film exhibition companies Motion Pictures Association (MPA), Cinema 21, CGV Cinemas and Cinemaxx, as well as the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf ) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

The approach used was by screening public service ads on the consequences of becoming a perpetrator or a consumer of pirated content. The first two ads, which will be aired soon at theaters nationwide, were directed by Angga and used the IP content of his production house Visinema Pictures.

“The ads will be our annual program in which every year we will release different videos using the IP owned by the association members. For the first project, we have used

Filosofi Kopi as the theme,” Angga said, referring to the company’s production.

The ads will star Filosofi Kopi lead actor Chicco Jerikho, seasoned actor Tio Pakusadewo and young actor Bebeto Leutualy, the cast of Angga’s Cahaya dari Timur: Beta Maluku (Lights from the East: I Am Maluku).

Aprofi chairman Fauzan Zidni said the initiative was only a part of an effort to stop the seemingly never-ending digital piracy. The association and MPA — involved in the antipiracy team under the coordination of Bekraf since last year — had also reported 176 illegal film streaming sites to the law ministry.

While the law ministry will oversee the lawsuit against these sites, the Communications and Informa- tion Ministry has the authority to block access to the sites.

“The illegal film distribution through these sites inflicted losses to the industry and the creative tal- ents,” he said. “By eliminating the illegal sites, the business of legal streaming sites can grow which is, for film producers, a new business opportunity.”

Aprofi also held field checks at shopping malls in several big cities to find the distribution of pirated DVDs. They found that the sales of pirated film DVDs still existed at 32 out of 100 malls in Jakarta; three out of 10 malls in Bogor, West Java; half of eight malls in Yogyakarta; all four shopping malls in Makassar, South Sulawesi; and 13 out of 14 malls in Surabaya, East Java.

Bekraf’s deputy chairman for IP rights facilitator and regulation, Ari Juliano Gema, said an orchestrated effort was vital in the antipiracy campaign. “However, complaints about IP right violations should be officially filed with us. We can help in pursuing the case and monitoring the legal process,” he said.

Stephen Jenner, VP Communi- cations of MPA for Asia-Pacific, said the organization supported the initiative to fight piracy. “Each mov- iegoer has a contribution to determine the future of the Indonesian film industry.”

Theater chains also hold regular checks inside theaters and monitor them through CCTVs.

Film producers in other countries are also in on the effort to nip digital piracy in the bud.

A film company in Costa Rica, Romaly, came up with the idea to create a fake site emulating the commonly known portal applying file-sharing technologies such as Torrent where the public can download pirated content.

According to techworm.net, the fake clone site would proceed to play a short trailer of the movie the user tried to download accompanied by a short message explaining how piracy affected the industry. It additionally contains an email address the downloaders can use to get two free theater tickets for the movie they have been trying to download.

Angga said the campaign also aimed at communicating to the public how the appropriate way to appreciate the creative work of a film was by watching it in theaters. “The cinematic experience amplifies the value of the film and in turn us producers can create bigger and phenomenal films. This is how it’s all connected.”

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President