Harmayn finds documentaries food for the soul<\/p>\n
By Tam Notosusanto<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Some time ago, Shanty Harmayn was having a
\nconversation with someone about documentary films. The person
\nmentioned a documentary film he has seen, Oliver Stone's JFK.
\nThat made Shanty flinch.<\/p>\n
\"I wanted to comment that JFK is actually a feature film,\"
\nsaid Shanty, a 33-year-old with an M.A. in documentary films from
\nStanford University. \"But instead, I thought, there must be a
\nreason why he was saying it is a documentary. Probably he meant
\nto say that it's a non-fictional film, one based on a true
\nstory.\"<\/p>\n
Being a documentary filmmaker here in Indonesia, and also a
\nprofessor of documentary production at the Jakarta Art Institute
\n(IKJ), Shanty has had to come to terms with how the majority of
\npeople here perceive documentary films.<\/p>\n
\"It's not an issue of misconceptions, really,\" she said. \"My
\nproblem is that people have a very limited way of looking at
\ndocumentaries. When asked about documentaries, they would
\ngenerally say, oh, the Discovery channel, wildlife, flora and
\nfauna. If you just have one definition, you're not expanding your
\noptions. Documentary is a form of creativity, so you should not
\ntake the creativity out of it.\"<\/p>\n
Shanty, however, does not consider herself the principal
\nauthority on documentaries here, she prefers the discourse on
\ndocumentaries to be the ongoing debate that it already is.<\/p>\n
\"If we say that this person is wrong and that person is right,
\nwe are only limiting ourselves,\" she said. \"So let's just have
\nan open discussion about it.\"<\/p>\n
Which is what she and some friends are currently organizing.
\nIn late July-early August of this year, Yayasan Masyarakat
\nMandiri Film Indonesia (the Indonesian Independent Film Community
\nFoundation), which she is a member of, collaborating with some
\nother foundations such as Yayasan Sejati -- belonging to renowned
\ndocumentary filmmaker Dea Sudarman -- and the international
\nmulti-media project Libraries on Fire, will hold a Cultural
\nDocumentary Film Seminar. This three-day seminar, taking place in
\nJakarta between July 28 and July 30 and in Yogyakarta between
\nAug. 1 and Aug. 3, will consist of workshops that will mostly
\ndiscuss the many and varied aspects of documentary filmmaking
\nsuch as how to document culture, how to document tradition, how
\nto document values, etc.<\/p>\n
Made possible by financial support from the Ford Foundation
\nand technical assistance from the Japan Foundation, this seminar
\nwill screen some documentary films as well as invite
\ndistinguished speakers such as L. Somi Roy, a documentary film
\ncurator and executive director of the Robert Flaherty Seminar in
\nNew York and San Francisco-based independent documentary
\nfilmmaker Les Blank.<\/p>\n
Shanty talks excitedly about this seminar, just as she is
\nexcited talking about her co-director for the seminar, Rhoda
\nGrauer. They are collaborating on Libraries on Fire, a three-part
\nseries focusing on world traditions, mainly oral traditions, that
\nis based upon the saying \"When an elder dies, a book burns.\" The
\nthree parts of the series will tell three different stories set
\nin three locations in Indonesia. This multi-media project will
\nnot only produce a film, but also books and a CD-ROM on the
\nsubject.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't been shooting a documentary for a long time, and
\nnow, coming back from location, I feel alive again, I feel
\nrecharged,\" Shanty said.<\/p>\n
\"Because you feel you're one with the nature, with the people.
\nIt accelerates my creativity in respect of my other projects. To
\nme, making documentaries is really like food for the soul.\"<\/p>\n
Shanty has wanted to be in films ever since her elementary
\nschool days, when she was overwhelmed one day by Antonioni's
\nBlow-Up. She graduated from the University of Indonesia with a
\ndegree in mass communications in 1990, and after working some
\ntime at Citibank, she was accepted at Stanford in 1992, where she
\nstudied documentary until she graduated in 1994. Her thesis
\nfilm, made with her two American fellow students, was entitled
\nBedhaya, and offers a look inside a Javanese kraton.<\/p>\n
The film was shown at prestigious events such as the Margaret
\nMead Film Festival and the Dance on Film Festival, both in New
\nYork.<\/p>\n
But her life is not pre-occupied solely with documentaries.
\nEven when she was in documentary film school, she knew that she
\ncould produce feature films as well.<\/p>\n
\"This is just the path that I took, documentary,\" she said.
\n\"Look, even filmmakers like Garin Nugroho, Mira Lesmana, Nan T.
\nAchnas, all had experience making documentaries before. It shows
\nthat just like feature films, documentary is all about stories.
\nI truly believe documentary is a form of storytelling. We tell
\nstories about something that really happened, that is actual, and
\nit's about how we as filmmakers perceive that reality and
\nrepresent it to the audience in the form of a documentary.\"<\/p>\n
That's why besides producing documentaries such as Nafas Batu
\nMerapi (The Breath of Merapi) and Bumiku Satu (My One Earth), she
\nwas also involved in the production of the big-screen feature
\nKuldesak and the television movie Mencari Pelangi (Looking for
\nthe Rainbow). She won awards at the Indonesian Television
\nFestival for both Bumiku Satu and Mencari Pelangi.<\/p>\n
And who can forget the Jakarta International Film Festival
\n(JIFFest), which she co-chaired last year, an ambitious,
\nunprecedented event here that showcased over 65 films from 15
\ndifferent countries?<\/p>\n
Shanty's schedule for this year looks quite full. Besides
\nLibraries on Fire and the seminar, and preparing for the second
\nJIFFest, she and her three-year-old company, Salto Productions,
\nis making a feature film called Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sand),
\na longtime pet project of Shanty and director Nan T. Achnas. The
\nfilm is currently shooting with stars Christine Hakim and Slamet
\nRahardjo on location in places such as Yogyakarta, and Mount
\nBromo.<\/p>\n
Just what sort of amazing energy can drive this woman to
\nbecome involved in so many different areas of filmmaking?<\/p>\n
\"Oh, I see all these different fields as one. Whether it's
\nproducing a documentary film, producing a feature film,
\norganizing a film festival, I am always focused on my love for
\nfilm and my love for storytelling,\" she said emphatically.<\/p>",
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