Asia-Pacific Film Festival lacks focus and direction

JAKARTA (JP): The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (APFF) must develop a specific focus in order to become respectable.

Indonesian film critic Marselli Sumarno said the APFF does not have any particular character or theme. Entries are therefore so varied that judging becomes a complicated task and prevents the festival from becoming vocal.

"There are around 200 film festivals in the world, and the sound ones usually have specific direction and preference. The Nantes Film Festival in France, for example, specializes in films from Third World countries. Cannes, also in France, specializes in artistic films," Marselli told The Jakarta Post recently.

He said without specialization it will continue to be difficult to judge films by people of different cultures and languages.

"The Tokyo Film Festival, which is quite new, is now more popular than the 40 year-old APFF because of its clear direction," said Marselli, who is also a lecturer at the Jakarta Arts Institute's film department.

The just finished APFF was a mixture of commercial and artistic films, he explained.

"There was strong competition at this festival, though. The winner of the best film category was not a bad choice, but I cannot understand why (Indonesia's) Garin Nugroho's film did not win any single prize," Marselli said, "The cinematography in Garin's Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon Dances) is very good, it deserved at least the best cinematography prize."

Hsiao Yu, a Taiwan thriller-drama about the adventures of an illegal Chinese immigrant in New York, won five of a possible 12 awards, including best film, at last week's festival.

Hsiao Yu also won for best sound, best art direction (Wing Lee) and best screenplay (Sylvia Chang and Ang Lee). Actress Rene Liu Joyin, who played the heroine in the film, was named best actress.

The Taiwan film, directed by Sylvia Chang, beat four other nominees for best film: The Last Tattoo (New Zealand), Turning Point (Japan), The Lovers (Hong Kong) and Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (Indonesia).

Failure

Indonesia submitted four films, including two by N. Riantiarno, Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang and Cemeng 2005 (The Last Prima donna). None won an award.

Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang, which was nominated for best film, was judged by some critics to be too artistic for a festival like APFF. Another Taiwan's major entry, Vive l'amour, which won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice film festival last year and is also categorized as an artistic film, was not even nominated. New Zealand's Once Were Warriors, which has won more than 20 international awards, including best film at the reputable Montreal Film Festival in Canada last year, and favorable reviews in international film magazines like London- based Empire, only took home the award for best supporting actress (Mamaengaroa).

"But I understand that sometimes there is a kind of proud feeling not to follow other jury's decision. A film which has won a prize in a festival usually will not win in another festival," Marselli explained.

Indonesian award-winning director Garin Nugroho, who left empty handed, said the seven judges were very objective and fair.

"What I can say is that the jury has been very selective, and it is important for APFF's character building," Garin told journalists at the award-presentation ceremony.

Senior Indonesian director Teguh Karya said that the nation's failure will force the Indonesian film circle to learn more in the future.

Marselli said it is also time to improve the APFF's image.

"Currently, the annual APFF is held in different countries and emphasizes friendship. There are even different kinds of trophies, depending on the country which organizes the festival. This kind of thing should change," he said, suggesting that the festival should be held in one country with one perpetual trophy. Such a system is different from the Cannes Film Festival with its Palm d'or award, or the U.S. Academy Awards with its Oscar.

Indonesia gave out Mitra (friendship) awards.

Marselli also said that more countries should be involved in the APFF since it is supposedly an international event. Only Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam are currently permanent members.

Last week's festival in Jakarta failed to attract public attention. A film exchange forum lacked visitors which some delegates blamed on lack of publicity. Markets where people can buy and sell films are an important and popular event at most international film festivals.

Besides poor publicity, poor management also plagued the festival. The organizer tried to screen 30 films in two small theaters with a maximum capacity of 100 seats each. Many people were upset to find that the free tickets had run out, only to discover the two movie theaters at Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center were almost empty the entire time.

Next year's host, Auckland will hopefully do a much better job.(als)