Film appreciation needs to be improved: Salim Said<\/p>\n
By Jane Scott<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Questions about the marketing and distribution of
\nIndonesian film were put to the Chairman of the Jakarta Arts
\nCouncil, author, film and cultural critic, Dr. Salim Said.<\/p>\n
In Salim Said's view, the mandatory screening of Indonesian
\nfilms during the Indonesian Film Month in March last year was not
\na great success. There were screens closed because of lack of
\nmaterials and audiences were negligible. But how else can the
\nproduction industry alert the public to the existence of
\nIndonesian film that should be seen?<\/p>\n
Q: In the late 1980s cinema attendance here was rising but
\ngrowth in the number of screening opportunities for Indonesian
\nfilms was lagging behind. Is this situation still current?<\/p>\n
Salim Said: No, it is not the same. There is little product
\nnow, around 20 to 30 films annually. It is difficult to find time
\nfor such films. With two exceptions, there was nothing worthwhile
\nin 1994 for a film observer, a cultural observer, like me.<\/p>\n
Q: Given the experience of one of the two films to which you
\nhave just referred, the Ucik Supra's film Badut-Badut Kota (Clown
\nof the City), a festival prizewinner abroad but it failed on the
\nlocal market, how can Indonesian films find audiences in the
\ncurrent situation?<\/p>\n
Salim: My theory is that the traditional audiences for
\nIndonesian films are the lower middle class and lower classes.
\nIf, once in a while there is a good film, that good film cannot
\nbe appreciated. The upper classes who patronize Hollywood movies
\nare not ready to appreciate good Indonesian film. They like to
\nparticipate in the \"event\" of popular movies and are guided by
\nreviews in newspapers which are synopses only. It is also a
\nproblem of film appreciation.<\/p>\n
Q: What of the fate of the other 'good' film of 1994, Garin
\nNugroho's Surat Untuk Bidadari? It won festival prizes overseas
\nbut has only had limited audience here.<\/p>\n
Salim: Even more typical.<\/p>\n
Q: To illustrate your point. A reputed director and no
\naudience?<\/p>\n
Salim: Yes, and Garin is a very special director, a graduate
\nof Indonesian film school, an avid reader. If Garin does continue
\nto make films he will be the second pioneer of Indonesian film,
\nafter the neo-realist work of Usmar Ismail. I hope he will find
\nhis own expression.<\/p>\n
Q: His own voice?<\/p>\n
Salim: Yes. Let me say this. I am still waiting for the real
\nGarin. His Surat Untuk Bidadari was what I consider a student
\nfilm. He has not yet incorporated (synthesized) what he has
\nlearnt, so you hear others' voices?<\/p>\n
Q: A textbook film, a bit derivative? You are waiting for him
\nto integrate his experience with his knowledge?<\/p>\n
Salim: Yes.<\/p>\n
Q: In an article in The Jakarta Post last year you said that
\nthe Indonesian film industry needed an \"orderly circulation
\nsystem\", among other things like money, talent, good management.
\nWould you expand on this?<\/p>\n
Salim: You see a poster for film, you think you will see it
\nthe next day, you go to the cinema, it is no longer there. You
\nsee the poster, then two days later they drop the film. The
\nexhibition system needs to be predictable for everyone, including
\nthe exhibitor and the audience. Otherwise people (like me) turn
\nto laser discs.<\/p>\n
Q: The history of the local industry is peppered with
\ndecisions to ban and revoke bans on foreign films, to support and
\nto relinquish support for local film production. Has the
\ngovernment given too much attention to film production and too
\nlittle to freeing up exhibition practices, marketing and
\ndistribution in particular?<\/p>\n
Salim: It does not give enough attention to any sector. The
\nindustry is all one -- production, distribution, marketing and
\nexhibition are all part of one package. And also film
\nappreciation, that is part of the package. Film appreciation here
\nneeds to be developed.<\/p>\n
Q: In the 1960s Umar Kayam said (and I quote from your book
\nShadows of the Silver Screen), while defending a government
\ndecision to allow large-scale importation of foreign films, that
\nimporters perform a \"mission\" in restoring the health of movie
\ntheaters in Indonesia, but that these importers must support and
\nassist development of national film production. What do you think
\nof those views?<\/p>\n
Salim: Protectionist, and against recent new free-trade
\npolicy. Cultural protectionism ... but they let us fight for
\nculture while they protect agriculture. In the movie business,
\nonly a few countries in the world - India, Iran, America itself
\n-- can be boss, can dominate in their own country. Let no
\nIndonesian dream of having a big film industry. In the future in
\nIndonesia there will be the two sub-cultures: the mostly low-
\nclass film and the quality film, the type that goes to
\ninternational festivals. These quality films do not make money
\nbut they show people you exist.<\/p>\n
Q: Dea Sudarman's documentary film The Asmat set in Irian Jaya
\nwas made with the assistance of investment from the Japanese
\ncompany NHK. Could this be a way for feature production to go --
\ngetting (at least) foreign exhibition, marketing, and
\ndistribution guaranteed through foreign investment in local
\nproduction?<\/p>\n
Salim: Yes, co-productions are possible ... But a recent co-
\nproduction for producer Budiati Abiyoga, the film Oeroeg, made
\nwith European partners, has been screened overseas and has not
\nyet been distributed here.<\/p>\n
Q: Commercial, non-government television companies could be
\ngood news for filmmakers as they have been in England with
\nChannel 4 and with Canal Plus in France. Could that sort of
\nsponsorship be activated here?<\/p>\n
Salim: Surat Untuk Bidadari was partly financed by TPI and I
\nhope that this culture will widen. As for programming, none of
\nthe television stations seek advice about good films; nor do they
\nhave specialist programmers.<\/p>\n
(We approach the end of our talk -- and reach the bottom of
\nour tea cups.)<\/p>\n
Salim: In Indonesia today there is a rising audience demand
\nfor quality film. Slowly there is an opening for the quality
\nfilm, the art film, which is a separate entity from the low-class
\nproduct. Both co-exist as two sub-cultures here. It has always
\nbeen the case.<\/p>",
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