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Indiskop opening lauded with call for more ‘people’ theaters
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan inaugurated Indiskop on Monday at Teluk Gong Market in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, saying that he expected more theaters to open at public markets across the capital
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span>Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan inaugurated Indiskop on Monday at Teluk Gong Market in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, saying that he expected more theaters to open at public markets across the capital.
Anies said that Indiskop would contribute to social equality in Jakarta by providing space for public interaction and affordable entertainment.
“Indiskop [offers] an opportunity for Jakartans to watch movies at affordable prices. So this is a new [platform] for building equality,” Anies told reporters at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday.
Indiskop has been established under a partnership between city-owned market operator Pasar Jaya and the Indonesian Film Actors Association (Parfi). The movie theater is located on the third floor of the Teluk Gong traditional market.
Construction on the Teluk Gong theater broke ground in November 2018, and the theater was conducting its trial run by June 21, 2019.
Indiskop’s ticket prices range from Rp 18,000 (US$1.27) on weekdays to Rp 25,000 on weekends. The new theater, which has two air-conditioned studios with 112 seats each and specializes in showing Indonesian movies, is offering a discounted price of Rp 15,000 per ticket until December.
In contrast, large theater chains are typically located in shopping malls and charge between Rp 35,000 and Rp 50,000 per ticket for weekday shows.
Anies said that he expected Pasar Jaya to build more discount theaters at the other markets it managed in Jakarta.
“If we can do this in Jakarta, Insya Allah [God willing], this will set an example for other [cities],” said Anies, and that the new theater concept presented an opportunity for Pasar Jaya to build more “bioskop rakyat” (people’s cinema).
“We should build [Indiskop theaters] in areas with greater socioeconomic challenges. We should start there,” he added.
Anies suggested Kenari Market in Senen as the potential site for a second Indiskop theater, which could represent the bioskop rakyat concept in Central Jakarta.
“We will gradually head to the south and east. I want Jakartans to be envious of Teluk Gong. If they are, then they will want [a discount theater],” he said.
Pasar Jaya president director Arief Nasrudin said the market operator planned to build two more discount theaters this year, one at Kenari Market and another at Metro Atom Market, both in Central Jakarta.
“Their market segment will be the same [as the Teluk Gong Indiskop]. We will announce their ticket prices in the future,” Pasar Jaya spokeswoman Amanda Gita told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
She said that Pasar Jaya would be cooperating with mainstream theater chain Cinema XXI on the discount theater at Kenari Market, and that it was seeking another theater chain to cooperate on the planned theater at Metro Atom Market.
“[Indiskop] will show movies across genres. Old movies, new releases and future releases as well,” said Parfi chairwoman Marcella Zalianty.
Indiskop is now showing Batas (2011), Rectoverso (2013), Mama Mama Jagoan (2018) and Ambu (2019) with rotating show times.
Marcella said that showing Indonesian classics would introduce the lower middle class to more local movies that were generally not shown at mainstream theaters.
Indiskop operations manager Almi Rusdi said the theater could pioneer the development of other theaters that specialized in Indonesian movies. Since local movies tended to have short runs at mainstream theaters, discount theaters could serve Indonesian production companies and filmmakers in offering longer run times.
