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."