On June 25, the film was aired at 9:30 a.m. Western Indonesia Time on TVRI‘s Belajar dari Rumah (BDR; Study from Home) educational program, a collaboration between TVRI and the ministry that supports students studying at home in keeping with the COVID-19 policies. Sejauh Kumelangkah was also aired on PT Telkom’s online streaming platform, USeeTV. Ucu said that she had not given permission for either broadcast.

Furthermore, the film had been cut from a runtime of 34 minutes and 26 seconds to 22 minutes and 58 seconds, which Ucu claimed had resulted in the loss of valuable messages from the film. She also reported numerous translation and subtitle errors.

Sejauh Kumelangkah centers on the friendship between two visually impaired teenagers in the United States and Indonesia. It also touches on the issue of disability access to education and other public services.

The film won an award at IF/Then Southeast Asia 2018, held by the New York-based Tribeca Film Institute and Indonesia’s In-Docs nonprofit institute, and also won Best Short Documentary at the 2019 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI).

Meanwhile, Ucu had signed an exclusive rebroadcasting contract with Al-Jazeera International that carried a six-month holdback period.

According to a statement received by The Jakarta Post, the issue began on April 25, when a staffer from the education ministry asked for recommendations on Indonesian movies and documentaries from In-Docs for airing on its BDR program. The ministry then selected Ucu’s Sejauh Kumelangkah and requested a high-resolution file of the film for submitting to the Film Censorship Institute (LSF). In-Docs refused the request, as it did not own the rights to Sejauh Kumelangkah, and because the ministry had not sent a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to Al-Jazeera as required.

After Sejauh Kumelangkah was broadcast on TVRI on June 25, In-Docs received Rp 1.5 million (US$ 101.13) transferred from an individual account on the same date.

The ministry, TVRI and Telkom are alleged of violating articles 5, 9 and 113 of Law No. 28/2014 on intellectual property, as well as articles 7 and 52 of Law No. 14/2008 on the disclosure of public information.

Ucu and her legal team from Amar Law Firm have demanded the ministry, TVRI and Telkom to issue a public apology. They also demanded that the ministry publicly disclose the budget for BDR, make the program more inclusive and hold a public awareness campaign on intellectual property rights. They have also demanded that TVRI and Telkom produce and air educational segments on intellectual property rights for 30 days at a runtime of 30 seconds for each segment.

As compensation for breaching the documentary’s rights, Ucu has asked that the ministry, TVRI and Telkom pay $80,000 to cover indebted production costs and potential losses to Al Jazeera International if the broadcaster were to report Ucu for breach of contract.

Separately, a ministry representative told the Post that it had tried to find a solution, including “mediation and facilitation” in August of the demands from Ucu and her legal team.

The ministry representative also expressed the hope that the matter would proceed in a manner that would not hinder its efforts to offer educational and cultural programs to the public amid the coronavirus emergency.

On July 6, the ministry sent an apology and assisted USeeTV in removing Sejauh Kumelangkah from the streaming platform. On Aug. 10 and 18, the ministry attended a mediation with Ucu’s legal team.

The ministry’s culture director general, Hilmar Farid, said in a statement that the BDR program aired on TVRI was not commercialized and that the ministry did not make any profits whatsoever from the program.

"With BDR, we were helping to find solutions for the education sector amid the pandemic by collaborating with filmmakers. We respect the law, and hope the matter will be resolved soon," he said.

Then on Oct. 6, the ministry issued a clarification on the matter, saying that since the beginning of its collaboration with TVRI, it had prohibited the BDR program from airing cultural programs and Indonesian films with exclusive rights due to broadcasting and copyright restrictions. The ministry also claimed that it had not been informed about the exclusive rebroadcasting contract between Al-Jazeera and Ucu.

Ucu and her legal team rejected the ministry's clarification the following day on Oct. 7, on the grounds that the ministry had been informed by In-Docs about the exclusive contract for Sejauh Kumelangkah that Ucu held with Al-Jazeera International when it requested the high-resolution file of the film.

In addition, Ucu stated that the ministry had not issued a public apology. The July 6 apology was sent as a private email correspondence from the ministry's director of film, music and new media to In-Docs, and was not addressed to Ucu as the director and rights holder of the documentary.

Furthermore, even though BDR was not a commercial program and the ministry did not profit whatsoever from rebroadcasting the film, Ucu asserted that Telkom’s USeeTV platform was a video-on-demand streaming service that charged a fee. Ucu also reiterated her regret that the ministry had broadcast, cut and modified her documentary for the BDR program without permission.

In response to the ministry and Telkom’s claims that the pair had stopped offering Sejauh Kumelangkah on June 30, Ucu said that she was still able to access it on USeeTV on July 3.

Referring to the ministry's statement about the mediation on Aug. 10 and 18, Ucu stated that the mediation took place over three days on Aug. 10, 18 and 28. The ministry did not attend the third day of the mediation and the process was regarded as unsuccessful, as the ministry, TVRI and Telkom were unwilling to issue a public apology and be transparent about their collaboration.

In the latest developments, the ministry posted on Oct. 9 an apology on the Instagram account of the Culture Directorate General, expressing regret for rebroadcasting Ucu's Sejauh Kumelangkah without the filmmaker’s permission. It also claimed that it was committed to resolving the matter.

 

 

 

 

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Permohonan maaf secara publik ini kami sampaikan kepada sutradara film Sejauh Kumelangkah @ucuagustin___ . Kami memohon maaf atas kesalahan kami dalam menayangkan film Sejauh Kumelangkah pada program Belajar dari Rumah (BDR) di TVRI tanpa persetujuan resmi @ucuagustin___ selaku pemilik dan pemegang hak cipta film tersebut. Film Sejauh Kumelangkah mengangkat kesadaran terhadap isu disabilitas dan pentingnya akses terhadap pendidikan inklusif. Semangat @ucuagustin___ , sejalan dengan kebijakan kami untuk mengembangkan sekolah inklusif dan memperluas akses terhadap pendidikan dan kebudayaan di masa pandemi. Salah satunya melalui program BDR. Kami berkomitmen untuk merampungkan permasalahan ini secara kondusif agar upaya kita untuk tetap menghidupkan kecintaan terhadap film Indonesia dan juga menegakkan pelindungan hak cipta dapat terus berjalan. Terima kasih. #budayasaya #sejauhkumelangkah

A post shared by Ditjen Kebudayaan Kemdikbud RI (@budayasaya) on Oct 9, 2020 at 3:09am PDT

On Oct. 12, however, Ucu and her legal team released a statement that the ministry’s Instagram apology had not addressed the main issue. The apology had only mentioned "broadcasting the documentary" as the manner by which it had infringed the film’s copyright, and did not say that it had also cut, modified and redistributed the film without permission.

Ucu added that the ministry had failed to meet her other demands, including publicly disclosing the BDR budget and paying $80,000 in compensation.

The filmmaker also said that TVRI seemed reluctant to respond to her legal notice and appeared to have passed on its responsibility to the ministry. Furthermore, neither institution had revealed who had obtained and provided a copy of Sejauh Kumelangkah to USeeTV.

Finally, Ucu said that her legal action was intended to protect intellectual property and disability rights, as well as uphold the law on public information disclosure. While the ministry had contacted her and requested another meeting, and although Ucu and her legal team were open to another meeting and settling the matter amicably, they remained steadfast in their demands and would take any necessary legal measures against the ministry, TVRI and Telkom. (wir/wng)

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Editor's note: This article has been updated to include statements from the Education and Culture Ministry and Ucu Agustin.