Catalog launch a relief for film buffs
Catalog launch a relief for film buffs
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Most people love movies. Some watch them only once in a while, others everyday. Movie lovers might occasionally watch two or three films in one night, but what do you call someone who watches three films a night all year long?
Call him J.B. Kristanto.
He watched three films every night for more than a year as part of the research for his book Katalog Film Indonesia 1226- 1995 (Catalog of Indonesian Films 1926-1995).
The book was launched on Oct. 21 at in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Cinematic Indonesia.
The first thing a reader can learn from the book is the number of films produced annually in Indonesia, a statistic which reflects the ups and downs of the film industry.
In 1926 and 1927, only one film was produced in each year. The number of films produced per year increased gradually in the following years and in the 1950s there were an average of 40 films produced each year. In the late 1980s, the number exceeded 100.
In 1990, 120 films were produced, but the number fell drastically to 61 in the next year. The film business has continued to be sluggish then, with the production of only 32, 26, and 32 films annually in 1992, 1993 and 1994 respectively.
Up to August this year, there have been only three films: Cemeng 2005 (The Last Primadona), Limbah Dosa (Sinful Waste) and Pawang (Expert with Magic Power).
Kristanto does not review the films listed in the book. But he does provide some interesting facts. For example, the first kissing scene in an Indonesian film is in Antara Bumi dan Langit (Between Earth and Sky), a love story involving a native Indonesian and a Dutch girl produced in 1950 and directed by Dr. Huyung, a former Japanese soldier with some Korean ancestry.
Janur Kuning , 1979, was "the most expensive film of its period", costing Rp 375 million to produce. It is one of three films based on the historic battle of Yogyakarta, between the Indonesian people and Dutch troops in 1949. The other two films which are based on the battle are Enam Djam di Djogja (Six Hours in Yogyakarta), 1950, and Serangan Fajar (Attack at Dawn), 1980. Unlike the other two, Janur Kuning emphasizes the role of Soeharto (now President Soeharto) in the country's struggle against the Dutch.
When Kristanto first set out to write the book, he wanted to answer the question of why Indonesian fictional films were not convincing. The key to answering that question, according to Kristanto, is Indonesian culture, including the social, economic and political conditions obtaining here.
This is complicated. So, instead of seeking to set forth an answer to the problem, he decided to present the public with facts.
Starting with the catalog project two years ago, Kristanto collected information on the old films from media clippings of the Cinematic Indonesia.
He collected data about films made after 1970 from the documents on the permits to produce films issued by the Ministry of Information. Kristanto also looked at the censorship papers at the Film Censorship Council.
But the stories in the movies were not always the same as the ones described in the documents. He even found two censorship documents for a single film which showed different running times.
In many cases he had trouble finding a copy of films, particularly the old ones.
The oldest film Kristanto watched was Antara Bumi dan Langit (Between Earth and Sky), which was produced in 1950. Cinematic Indonesia had a part of Siluman Babi (Pig Devil), which was made in 1935. The other part is missing.
In fact, he could find only a few films made before 1970. He also had to work hard to get those made afterwards as most producers have not kept the films they produced in the 1970s and 1980s. Kristanto turned to video rental shops and was disappointed to find that they didn't have many old films. To make things even more difficult, the major video rental shops had been closed down following a massive campaign against pirated video cassettes in the 1980s.
Some relief was provided by the screening of Indonesian films on local TV stations, at a rate of three per day.
He recorded the films and watched them after work.
Even though not all of them were good, Kristanto had his eyes glued to the screen. His endurance is undoubtedly amazing. How could he have survived?
He was able to survive because he viewed the films as social documents and ignored their artistic values. From that point of view, all the films were good.
On the basis of artistic criteria, only a few local films can be considered good.
"It's the common hypothesis that we produce only a few good movies. How many American movies are there which are really good? Not many," he said. "But what bothers me is that the bad movies we produce are awfully bad."