Director Nan communicates without words<\/p>\n
By Hera Diani<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Film director Nan Triveni Achnas believes a film
\nshould provide the audience with a lot of space.<\/p>\n
"We mustn't give them all of the story. Let the audience
\ninterpret it for themselves," she said recently.<\/p>\n
She was speaking at a media conference to introduce her latest
\nfilm, Pasir Berbisik, which is due out in theaters on Sept. 7.<\/p>\n
The film continues in the tradition of director Garin Nugroho,
\nwith beautiful and poetic pictures but little dialog.<\/p>\n
Following the conference, Nan spoke with The Jakarta Post,
\nsaying that film could not be separated from visual language.<\/p>\n
"The power of a film is the language, where we can communicate
\nwithout words, providing all of the information through
\npictures," the 38-year-old director said.<\/p>\n
She said her goal was to use dialog to strengthen (the story)
\ninstead of explaining it.<\/p>\n
"But I'd like to underline here that despite visually great
\npictures, a film still has to be communicative," said the Jakarta
\nArts Institute (IKJ) graduate and professor.<\/p>\n
Nan is clearly passionate about her profession, despite the
\nfact that the film industry in the country has been unhealthy for
\nsome time.<\/p>\n
This passion was demonstrated when she went through with the
\nproduction of Pasir in the face of the country's economic and
\npolitical turmoil.<\/p>\n
"I'd always been obsessed with making a full-length feature
\nfilm. So at some point I just went for it, talked to the right
\npeople and here it is."<\/p>\n
Pasir tells the story of a relationship between a village
\ngirl, played by newcomer Dian Sastrowardoyo, and her over-
\nprotective mother, played by renowned actress Christine Hakim.<\/p>\n
The majority of the film was shot in the desert around Mount
\nBromo in East Java.<\/p>\n
Nan said the idea to shoot a film at that location occurred to
\nher eight years ago when she shot the documentary Bromo, Kliwon,
\nand I, which was screened at festivals in Japan, Germany and
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
She said she fell in love with the sand, which she described
\nas beautiful, mystical and everchanging.<\/p>\n
"The story developed later, with characters based on many of
\nthe characters I have met, read about and imagined," said Nan,
\nwho wrote the story in English.<\/p>\n
She deliberately made the women characters the center of the
\nstory, with the male characters playing a supporting role.
\nAlthough unwilling to be labeled a feminist, Nan said she was
\nconcerned with women's issues and often examined these issues in
\nshort films and documentaries.<\/p>\n
"It is very interesting that suddenly women have become a
\nreliable commodity in Hollywood, with the latest example being
\nLara Croft. Even men can accept the woman as the hero. That is
\nalso happening here," she said.<\/p>\n
Passion for film<\/p>\n
Nan's love for film emerged when she was a teenager (she was
\nborn and grew up in Singapore), a time in her life when she says
\nshe did nothing except watch movies and read books.<\/p>\n
"I don't have a favorite director, though. But I have a lot of
\nfavorite movies, like Citizen Kane," said Nan, who has also
\ndirected numerous TV commercials.<\/p>\n
She also loves to write. "Hey, I was with the paper (the
\nPost), too! Back in 1984 ... but only for a year."<\/p>\n
Nan said writing for print media was not her idea of
\nexpressing herself, even though she enjoys writing.<\/p>\n
After leaving the Post, she enrolled in IKJ, majoring in film
\nand directing.<\/p>\n
In 1990, Nan won a fellowship from the government of the
\nNetherlands for commercial, documentary and feature television
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
Four years later, after receiving the British Chevening Award,
\nshe flew to England to study at the University of East Anglia,
\nwhere she obtained her master's in film study.<\/p>\n
Her directorial debut was in 1988 with the short film Urip,
\nwhich she also wrote. In the same year another of her short
\nfilms, Only A Day, won the Grand Prize at the Young Cinema Film
\nFestival in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Since that triumph, Nan has represented Indonesia at several
\nforeign film festivals.<\/p>\n
Noted actor Didi Petet, who starred in Pasir, said Nan was
\nunlike any director he knew.<\/p>\n
"Most of the time while making Pasir, she used long shots.
\nOther directors give us a close-up shot, so it's easy for us to
\nexplore the role. But not with Nan."<\/p>\n
He said long shots made it very difficult because the audience
\ncannot see the actors' faces or expressions, so they have to
\nidentify the actors' characters from their gestures.<\/p>\n
"Nan would say 'So, what do you have?' If we didn't get what
\nshe meant, then we wouldn't get the emotion. She just didn't want
\nto lose the moment, the angles are all sand. I said, is she
\ndirecting sand or people?" Didi said, laughing.<\/p>\n
Nan said she had always wanted to cast Didi in one of her
\nfilms. However, when directing Pasir she said she felt sorry for
\nhim and the rest of the actors.<\/p>\n
"While the crew were wearing coats, near the stove and having
\nhot coffee because of the very cold weather, the stars were
\nwearing thin clothes and going barefoot," she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Nan is optimistic the Indonesian film industry is getting
\ncloser to recovery, with Garin's Daun Di Atas Bantal and
\nKuldesak, and the commercially successful Petualangan Sherina.<\/p>\n
"A lot of changes have taken place. The themes are very
\ndifferent from those back in the '80s. There are many young
\npeople now who want to make movies," she said.<\/p>\n
For her next project, Nan said she is going to make another
\nfull-length digital film with 13 fellow directors.<\/p>\n
"The story ... is still a secret," she said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/director-nan-communicates-without-words-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }