Aman Rochman

Adrizzle of rain was not enough to deter people from gathering before a big white screen to wait for a bioling (mobile cinema) show organized by the Malang Muhammadiyah University (UMM).

The show took place on the volleyball court of Ngijo village in Malang, East Java, on Feb. 6.

The mobile cinema show, supported by the Education and Culture Ministry, began at 7 p.m. The show featured 12 children’s films, each of which were around 15 minutes long.

The opening film was Kunam Sinam, the reverse of the Javanese words manuk manis (sweet bird). It was about parents’ attempts to prepare their sons for circumcision. Manuk is a local term for penis.

Most of the boys in the audience were amused because the story was very relatable.

Eleven-year old Sarifudin Alfarizi, for example, said bashfully that he liked Kunam Sinam because he had gone through the same experience two months earlier.

“Ten of the films were assignments of UMM communication students and the other two were produced by the city’s film community,” mobile cinema film production manager Novin Farid Setio said.

“This time the films’ themes explored the social and cultural experiences of children and teenagers in their Malangstyle Javanese language,”

“However, the themes of the films are also adjusted to the place and the requests of those who invite us, and are sometimes also attuned to particular holiday celebrations.”

The last film, Darah Biru Arema 1 (Arema 1’s Blue Blood), focused on locals’ love for the city’s soccer club, Arema. The flicks were all designed to highlight mutual assistance, discipline, fighting spirit, tolerance, responsibility, character building and patriotism.

For the moment, mobile cinema is only held once a month as the UMM student volunteers do not have a lot of spare time.