During the coronavirus lockdown, not all people are just passively binge-watching Netflix at home; some are also engaging in creative expressions with each other in activities facilitated by filmmakers and critics.

“When I check Instagram at about 6 p.m. every day, I see lots of Instagram stories on 20 to 30 accounts, in which people are reciting poetry, playing the guitar, discussing films and literature. Some are even dancing,” filmmaker Paul Agusta told The Jakarta Post.

Paul, whose latest flick is Daysleepers (2019), also engages the public in creative expressions via the Instagram account of Bengkel Karya Kuma (@bengkelactingkuma), an arts collective he established with actor Khiva Iskak and whose members are filmmakers and alumni of an acting class they held.

According to Paul, before the large-scale social restrictions, the collective had already started to produce monthly videos and posting them on Instagram as well as the collective’s YouTube channel, Bengkelaktingkuma.

“We’re still producing these videos, remotely directing our collective members, who film themselves at home,” he said.

The collective holds acting and photography workshops and conducts poetry and monologue reading challenges, including its own version of the #passthebrushchallenge.

Filmmaker Jason Iskandar challenged people to film themselves near windows and has already received about 200 submissions that will later be edited into one story. A YouTube series called Ustadz Menjaga Jarak (A Cleric Practicing Physical Distancing) also uses the same format and so do many television advertisements, from cigarette brand Sukun to cellular provider Indosat, according to Paul.

He added that many filmmakers were currently being hired to make animation advertisements, as physical distancing does not allow them to film on location. Furthermore, these filmmakers also receive requests to make audio placements for Spotify and Apple Music in a format reminiscent of the good old radio drama. These projects help filmmakers make a living during the crisis.

Paul said physical distancing measures had hit crew members hardest, and as a filmmaker, he had lost five projects this year, so YouTube and Spotify royalties could be a source of income (he himself will start a podcast on film and music).

Speaking of podcasts, Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar whose latest film was Gundala (2019), a superhero film based on the eponymous comic book character created by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata in 1969, also created a learning platform for aspiring filmmakers by starting his own podcast JOKAN, accessible via Spotify, on April 11.

Joko categorizes the podcast’s content into retrospective, audio commentary and bedtime stories. In retrospective stories, Joko speaks with filmmakers — so far Upi, Mouly Surya, Mo Brother and Ody C. Harahap — who reexamine their work.

The audio commentary allows people to watch films while listening to the filmmakers’ behind-the-scene explanations from start to finish, featuring Joko’s Gundala and A Copy of My Mind (2015) so far. Bedtime stories is a storytelling program conducted every night.

Joko said the audio commentaries have been downloaded by about 2,000 people, with about 10,000 people listening to the podcast.

“Some people say they enjoy the audio commentaries most because they accompany the listeners as they watch Gundala, for instance, with stories on how the filmmaker created each scene. They say it was a unique film watching experience,” he added.

When we talk about film comprehension amid movie buffs, we should also mention the recently hype Netflix Party, a Google Chrome extension that lets you and your friends remotely watch Netflix together while discussing the same show or film.

Famega Syavira Putri, 34-year-old journalist and travel author, has also conducted a remote film night out, where she and her boyfriend, who lives outside Jakarta, watched Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s 2011 A Separation in their respective homes while exchanging their reactions of the film via WhatsApp.

“We counted one, two, three before pressing the ‘play’ button to synchronize our movie-watching time and after the film ended we discussed the film by phone,” she said.

To help film enthusiasts have deeper discussions, film critic Eric Sasono has also conducted an Instagram live session on how to comprehend films with the Mondiblanc film workshop.

“The informal nature of virtual platforms has made it easier for people to exchange thoughts while refining creative ideas,” he said.

He conceded, however, that the strong internet connection that allowed these exchanges to happen was currently only available in Indonesia’s big cities.

Paul said these activities could give people a sense of hope amid a difficult time while reminding them not to let physical distancing limit their creativity.

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