TV drama on scavengers launched<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Noted director Teguh Karya launched the start of
\nhis new production Alang-alang (weeds), a TV drama \"on a little
\ngirl who wants a better future.\"<\/p>\n
\"We will shoot the first take this evening,\" Teguh said
\nyesterday at his Central Jakarta workshop.<\/p>\n
Focusing on a family of Jakarta scavengers, the \"documentary
\ndrama,\" is broken up into three segments, each 42 minutes long.
\nThe show is a cooperative project with the National Family
\nPlanning Board (BKKBN), the private-owned Televisi Pendidikan
\nIndonesia (TPI) and the film division of PT Citra Lamtoro Gung
\nPersada, the latter two owned by Hardiyanti Siti Rukmana.<\/p>\n
Both Teguh and BKKBN chairman\/Minister of Population Haryono
\nSuyono ensured the production would not appear to be propaganda
\non family planning or the development of the prosperous family;
\ntwo issues recently discussed by President Soeharto for the
\nsecond part of the national family planning program.<\/p>\n
\"We want to share values without adding new slogans, as there
\nare too many of them out there already,\" Teguh said.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully, people will understand what it takes to make a
\nstrong family. We're not going to tell them that we want them to
\nuse condoms, or accept Alang-alang as a pure, high form of art,\"
\nsaid Haryono. \"I have no right to dictate to Teguh.\"<\/p>\n
Teguh said one of the sources of the drama's story was \"an
\nunexpected interview with scavengers\" and a recent investigation
\nconducted for the production by the American Frank Little
\nAssociates.<\/p>\n
Teguh said that the findings, both informal and from the
\nresearch, detail the resilience of scavenger families, the
\nembarrassment of fathers who hide their job from their children
\nwho are left behind in their villages and the attitudes of
\nscavengers' children who are mocked in school because of their
\nparents' profession.<\/p>\n
Cost<\/p>\n
Teguh said one of the goals of the \"low-cost\" Rp 190 million
\n(US$87,963) drama is that its 20-minute trailer would be brought
\nto the International Conference on Population and Development in
\nCairo, Egypt, scheduled for September.<\/p>\n
The main characters of Alang-alang include ten-year-old Dea
\nYunita Tiarakusuma as \"Syarifah,\" a scavenger's daughter, Dimas
\nas Romli, her younger brother and veteran artists Rima Melati and
\nRachmat Hidayat as a rich couple.<\/p>\n
Dea has played in a few earlier TV dramas, most recently, the
\ncharacter Ningrum in Si Putih. The fifth grader of Bekasi, East
\nJakarta said she doesn't mind the mucking around in garbage that
\nher role requires.<\/p>\n
\"It is good experience,\" she said, adding that her studies
\nwould not be affected. \"I still ranked third in my class (this
\nsemester),\" she said with a smile.<\/p>\n
Although Teguh claimed he was doing \"something different\" from
\nthe other current TV dramas, known here as sinetron, he would not
\ngive any specific comments about other mini-series.<\/p>\n
\"I will only say that 10 out of every 15 productions are not
\ngood.\" (anr)<\/p>",
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