Can television help to revive local films?

By Antariksawan Jusuf

JAKARTA (JP): The third annual French Movie Festival in Jakarta ended two weeks ago, but the impact remains. There are a lot of things Indonesian movie makers can learn from their French counterparts to help bring about "the resurrection of Indonesian films".

Looking at a number of productions, the Indonesian film industry can learn, among other things, to improve movie industry related organizations, to set up distribution and to find sources to finance productions.

The last point seems to be the most critical, especially during the current economic crisis. Surprisingly, television, which some analysts here blame as a contributing factor to the decline of the movie industry, may be a source of help to movie productions.

According to Laurent Allary of French Unifrance, an organization which promotes French movies all over the world, "Fifty percent of French movies are produced by television stations".

Aside from Canal Plus, television stations finance some 16 to 20 percent of the 150 total French movie productions annually, Allary said in a discussion prior to a screening at the French movie festival.

In addition, Canal Plus provided 24 percent of the cost of film productions in 1985, and its investment rose to 70 percent within a decade. To advertise French movies, the channel airs a twice weekly program which promotes new films with movie reports and interviews with directors and actors.

French movie productions this year reached 158 titles and more than 149 million people went to see the movies. In an open market, the distribution of French movies reached 151 titles, slightly higher than the 145 American films, and much greater than the 98 movies from other foreign markets.

In terms of organization, France has the National Center for Cinematography (CNC) which organizes film productions, oversees revenues from box offices and provides financing for script writing and production.

CNC deducts 7 percent from every movie ticket sold to help finance film productions, providing some 15 to 25 percent of the total production budgets.

In contrast, Indonesia in 1997 recorded only seven million movie goers out of the 140 million people living in Java, according to Bustal Nawawi, a lecturer at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts, and deputy chairman of the Film and Television Employees organization.

To make matters worse, the number of local film productions have been sharply declining year after year. Some analysts link the decline in movies with the rise in investments in profitable television programs. In contrast to TV series productions, which reached some 4,000 hours of episodes in 1996, movie productions have hit rock bottom, with only 22 titles produced in 1995. After that year, the monetary crisis further lowered local film productions to 20 features annually, most of which were mainly erotic fare.

A joint venture scheme between television stations and movie makers had been initiated, and does provide some little help to the movie industry. However, there are only three such productions to date.

RCTI helped cofinance Daun Di Atas Bantal (A Leaf on a Pillow), a movie by celebrated director Garin Nugroho, and Kuldesak, which is currently in theaters.

Backed by 21 leading distribution groups, Daun Di Atas Bantal, launched earlier this year, set a record for a local film by running for 84 days at the capital's most prestigious multiplexes, Planet Hollywood and Pondok Indah. Playing on two screens, ticket sales reached 52,000.

In return, RCTI gets broadcast rights of a longer television version of both movies; movies which many people see as capable of helping to begin the "resurrection of Indonesian films".

For Indonesian television stations, the joint venture is not without risk, because stations prefer long running series rather than a one episode movie, to enable them to pocket more advertising revenues.

SCTV has recently made a breakthrough in movie production financing. It is currently cofinancing Reinkarnasi. The station and its partner, Kharisma Starvision, will benefit from the deal, because actor and director Dede Jusuf will direct a wide-screen movie for theater release, while at the same time directing a 13- episode television series which will share actors, actress and story lines. The television series is expected to serve as a good advertising platform for the theatrical version.

Both versions of Reinkarnasi are expected to be released next year.

Three titles may not seem like much, but it is a small step toward a healthy and productive Indonesian movie industry that, hopefully, will one day be able to rival that of the French.