FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Riri Riza, Mira Lesmana and Lalu Rois Amriradhiani. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)Film producer Mira Lesmana gave the thumbs-up sign and cheerfully smiled at photojournalists Wednesday after the Constitutional Court turned down a request from filmmakers and actors to disband the country's censorship body.

Later, she embraced activist and political analyst Fajroel Rahman, who was at the hearing to support the film community. "Long live democracy," she said to him.

Her move might seem odd as the court turned down the request of filmmakers and actors joined in the Indonesia Film Society (MFI) to abolish articles in the 1992 Film Law, which they deem stifles their right to freedom of expression. But Mira had her reasons.

After a long press conference, riding in the back of a packed Suzuki APV (passengers included film director Riri Riza, Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) director Lalu Rois Amriradhiani and MFI defender Christiana Chelsea Chan) heading to the JIFFest office, Mira explained her jovial mood to The Jakarta Post.

"Because for us this is just another form of victory," she said.

The curly-haired 40-something Mira, who looks 10 years younger, was in a light mood. Wearing a blue tunic dress with a white floral print, leggings and comfortable shoes, she joked with Riri and Lalu about how some 40 hardline Muslims from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) had carried around Anwar Fuady, the head of the Television Cinema Association in the lobby of the Constitutional Court after the hearing. Anwar is a strong supporter of the censorship body.

Mira said people might perceive the turning down of MFI's request by the court as their loss. However, observed closely, she said, the court had also ruled that the current Film Law was no longer in line with the spirit of the times.

Constitutional Court Judge Jimly Asshiddiqie ruled that "a new film law, along with a new assessment system in line with the democratic spirit and respect to human rights, was urgently needed".

The court ruled that the current Film Law could not be abolished until a new law was in place.

"For us, the court's rejection of our request was only based on one thing, to avoid a void in the legal system if they granted our request," Mira said.

"The court ruled that the Film Law is only *conditionally constitutional'," Riri added.

It is clear for the members of the MFI that their struggle has yet to be over.

"What the court ruled gives as the right to push the DPR (House of Representatives) on the issue of the Film Law," Mira said.

The national legislature is in the process of deliberating the new film law.

"We will make sure that the Agency of National Film Development (BP2N) will include us in the drafting of the new law," Mira said.

They will also advocate more on a film classification system based on age. According to Mira, with the classification system, citizens can protect children from illicit material without suppressing people's freedom of expression and freedom to access information.

For 37-year-old Riri, who, like Mira, is also curly haired, though bespectacled, it is time for the state to give individuals the freedom to think for themselves and make choices.

Riri faced censorship in his creative works such as the film Gie (2005). In this he tells the story of a 1960s student activist Soe Hok Gie. The censorship body cut the scene in which Gie was kissing his girlfriend.

"The censorship board said that it was not in Gie's character to kiss his girlfriend. But it's their version of the truth; the public should be allowed to see other versions. And of course we did thorough research beforehand," Mira said. Mira was the producer of Gie.

The love-making scene in another of Riri's movies, 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya (3 Days to Forever) (2007), was heavily censored.

The movie is about two angst-ridden youths taking a road trip from Yogyakarta to Jakarta. It has been restricted to audiences who are 18 years and over by the censorship board.

"They did the cutting without looking into the context of the story," Riri said.

"People should be free to think for themselves and make choices. They should practice self-censorship and decide by themselves what is good for them, and what is not," he said.

"Censorship is not the key, classification is."

Riri acknowledged that some individuals in the country might be ready to practice such freedom responsibly; others not. "But people who are not ready should not be a deterrent for people who are. It's a learning process," he said.

Filmmakers and actors' struggle to abolish censorship and revamp the film law goes as far back as 1999, the year after reformasi, when they pushed the House to revise the Film Law.

Their effort received solid support after young filmmakers joined forces in MFI in 2006.

They came together as a group after the government-sanctioned Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) controversially awarded Best Film to a campy high school drama Ekskul (2006) -- produced by soap opera production house Indika Entertainment -- outdoing the highly acclaimed Berbagi Suami (Shared Love) (2006) and Denias: Senandung Di Atas Awan (Denias, Melodies Above the Clouds) (2006).

At that time, some 30 filmmakers and actors returned their Citra awards, the country's highest film prize, to the FFI as an act of protest as they alleged that the score for Ekskul was taken from the Korean film Tae Guk Gi. The BP2N later revoked the decision of awarding Best Film to Ekskul.

From those 30 individuals, the MFI grew into a group with 300 members, including film festival directors and film critics. They put their combined strength into their ongoing struggle for more freedom of expression in film.

"We realized that the presence of the Constitutional Court -- established in 2002 -- gave us an access to fight for our constitutional rights," Mira said.

They filed their petition to the court in November 2007.

For Mira and Riri as filmmakers, as well as Lalu as a festival organizer, the word struggle is not unfamiliar.

Mira and Riri were part of the young generation of filmmakers who managed to awaken the national film industry, which was an industry in hiatus in the early 1990s (only film director Garin Nugroho was producing quality films at that time).

Amidst the complicated bureaucracy in producing a film, along with Nan T. Achnas and Rizal Mantovani, they produced their first independent film Kuldesak in 1996 guerilla style. Due to red tape, it took them two-and-a-half years to be able to release the film in the cinema in 1998.

Lalu meanwhile understands the struggle to put together the Jakarta Film Festival (JIFFest), which this year will be a decade old.

"In this struggle for freedom of expression, sometimes we do come to low points when we are tired. But as a team one will always fill in the other's place. So as a group we'll always have energy," Mira said.

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