After a two-year hiatus, the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest) is back.

Scheduled to run until Nov. 30, the festival began with an evening of Pop-Up Cinema on Friday at the Galeri Indonesia Kaya, in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta. Crowds of enthusiastic film lovers flocked to the opening Pop-Up Cinema sessions and enjoyed a selection of independent Indonesian films.

Many of the films chosen for the first two nights have already achieved success at international film festivals and highlights included Dirmawan Hatta'€™s atmospheric Toilet Blues and Tonny Trimarsanto'€™s touching documentary The Mangoes.

Toilet Blues, which previously featured in the 2013 Busan International Film Festival'€™s New Currents program, offers a meditative and episodic take on the classic road-trip narrative. The film follows the journey of childhood friends, rebellious wild-child Anjani (Shirley Anggranini) and priest-in-training Anggalih (Tim Matindas), as they travel through the Javanese countryside.

The long-awaited feature-length version of his award-winning documentary Renita-Renita, Tonny Trimarsanto'€™s The Mangoes tells the story of transgender woman Renita, formerly known as Mohammed Zein Pundagau, as she works up the courage to return to her home village in Sulawesi, 25 years after being disowned by her parents.

Tonny, who won the award for Best Art Director at the Indonesian Cine Club Film Festival in 1997 for his work on the classic film Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on a pillow), brings to this poignant and humorous documentary his characteristically intimate cinematic style.

This weekend, a Bong Joon-ho Retrospective program, focusing on the work of world-renowned Korean director Joon-ho, is also being screened at Blitzmegaplex Grand Indonesia. The films chosen for the retrospective include Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006) and Mother (2009).

JiFFest'€™s organizers are thrilled to be breathing new life back into the festival, which was last held in 2011.

'€œActually, we never wanted to go away,'€ explained festival founder Shanty Harmayn, '€œbut we had to adapt to a new era and changes in the industry.'€

Plagued by financial difficulties in years gone by, JiFFest has now partnered with muvila.com, an online media platform that offers information and discussions on film, television and entertainment industry in general.

Aoura L. Chandra, the online media founder and long-time fan of JiFFest, said the partnership was a '€œno-brainer'€, as the two organizations had highly compatible goals and visions.

The festival theme, New Chapter, does not just refer to the new partnership but also to a number of program innovations. This year, the festival is spread over three weekends, to give people more chance to attend various sessions, and is divided into four sections '€” Pop-Up Cinema, Retrospective, World Cinema and Open Air Cinema.

Running in tandem with the public program are events designed to support and grow the local film industry. '€œFor the first time we'€™re holding an Indonesian filmmakers gathering, to meet and share ideas,'€ says Aoura. '€œThe idea is to inspire each other, so as an industry we can grow and develop.'€

Perhaps the most interesting and ambitious innovation this year is the Open Air Cinema to be held at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta. For two nights, a giant screen will be set up in the iconic square and the films will begin after sunset. The screenings will be free for all.

For the open-air format, the organizers have tried to select films, such as action films, that are fun to watch together with friends.

Joe Taslim, popular star of the action film The Raid and ambassador for JiFFest, is enthusiastic, believing this year'€™s festival to be '€œmore public, not just for the film industry but for all'€.

Aoura says if the Open Air Cinema goes well they hope to expand the program in the future, bringing more films to public spaces.

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

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