The 14-inch box was a major draw in the village and turned Anggi’s house into a favorite hangout spot for the community. Visitors came to his house almost every night to watch practically everything broadcast, from sport matches to local shows.

That nightly ritual somehow became the foundation for Anggi’s hopes of becoming a moviemaker capable of drawing crowds and entertaining them.

“My first camera was a small pocket camera that belonged to my mother’s friend. My mother asked me to take pictures of her and her friends performing in a choir. I felt very proud to be behind the camera capturing the moment,” Anggi said.

But Anggi soon came face to face with the harsh reality of his situation, where he had limited access to the expensive technology essential to filmmaking.

Making movies was not a cheap business at that time, especially for young people. Renting equipment from movie production companies required handsome sums of money, with some items costing millions
of rupiah.

But the high-spirited Anggi never gave up.

Carrying the belief that if there is a will, there is a way, Anggi was able to prove that money did not have to be a barrier to realizing his dream.

Together with his high school friends, Anggi established a small community group called Kelompok 56 in 2001, which was able to produce small-budget movies with a production value of less than
Rp 500,000 (US$56).

“I was in the 12th grade. I borrowed a handy cam from my friend and we made a short movie about a beggar finding a lunch box that belonged to a kid,” Anggi said about his first film project, Tapi Maaf (Sorry).

He recalled how the movie had been made with limited equipment with no one having a clue about
directing.

“No words like “rolling”, “cut” or “action” were being yelled out during the production,” said the communications graduate from the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

Luckily, during that time independent movie making was on the rise.

Filling the void of the country’s dying film industry, hundreds of film communities and clubs produced thousands of short movies between 1999 and 2004.

A number of competitions were held to gather indie moviemakers from all around Indonesia and the events soon helped resurrect the local film industry.

Anggi was among the young talents who earned recognition at various local film competitions, where many of his movies were nominated in various categories, including best film.

His greatest achievement was when one of his movies won a Citra, a prominent national film competition, in 2008 for Best Short Film.

Anggi produced the movie, while his partner in Kelompok 56, B.W. Purbanegara, was the director.

The movie is one of the masterpieces of Kelompok 56, which subsequently changed its name to
56 Films.

After the project, Anggi directed a short movie called Hujan Tidak Jadi Datang (It’s Not Raining Outside), which was screened at a number of international film festivals, including in Rotterdam, Berlin, Manila, Bangkok and Singapore.

He also had the chance to participate in a short course on movie making at the Asian Film Academy in Pusan, South Korea, an experience that changed the way he thought about the art of directing.

“Interacting with 24 filmmakers from other Asian countries has broadened my perspective on film production,” he said.

Anggi is currently involved in the production of a documentary with renowned director Nia Dinata.

The film, screened at the upcoming Jakarta International Film Festival (Jiffest), documents the life of women working for a traditional theater group known as Kethoprak Tobong in East Java.

He is also developing his next movie called At The Pool Side. The short film is the second part of his trilogy on relationships.

When asked what his aspirations were for the country’s film industry in the future, Anggi recalled his childhood memories.

He imagined a local film infrastructure that could be accessed by all sorts of parties, with cheap technology, and affordable access for film fans, so that people in villages could watch and enjoy movies.

“I’m wondering whether it is possible for Indonesians to get the same opportunity to watch movies. Of course, this would require sound and non-monopolistic infrastructure,”

“If such infrastructure existed, you can imagine how massive our film industry would be in the future,” Anggi said.

His thoughts may sound idealistic and difficult to reach for many, but this man has already succeeded in turning his dreams into reality.

Last year, Anggi and 56 Films initiated a script-writing workshop for seven young filmmakers in Yogyakarta to nurture their interest in the film industry and develop their talent.

“The workshop is free and we plan to publish a book about it so everyone can read and understand how movies are produced. We are now looking for funding,” Anggi said.

For Anggi, making movies accessible for all is not an impossible dream, but a reality requiring only belief and dedication.

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