CCF is more than art shows and courses

CCF is more than art shows and courses

By Cecile Prevost

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and France are 15,000 kilometers apart
but the two countries have no problem in promoting understanding
of each other's culture.

The CCF (French Cultural Center) and Alliances Francaises
(French Alliances) which have branch offices in major cities
throughout Indonesia account for "little pieces of France".

In Jakarta, there are two CCF offices and one in Bandung,
Yogyakarta and Surabaya respectively.

French Alliances have more representative offices in Jakarta,
Bandung, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Balikpapan, Medan, Padang,
Manado and Makassar.

The main difference between the two institutions is that the
CCF depend on the French Embassy, whereas the Alliances
Francaises are associations, organizing French courses and less
important cultural events.

CCF's main activity is to promote cultural exchanges between
France and Indonesia, which are organized by the AFAA
(Association Francaise d'Action Artistique, or French Association
of Artistic Action). The AFAA is attached to the French ministry
of Foreign Affairs. It proposes French artists or helps with
their shows, concerts or exhibitions in Indonesia.

"Through the Saison Francaise (French Season) from February to
June 2000, the CCF presented a lot of French artists," says
Azizah Asnawi, CCF press relations officer.

"But the Saison Francaise also presents dances, films and
theater in order to present the largest panorama of French arts
to the Indonesian public", added Azizah. The Saison Francaise is
now still on tour in Java.

The popular French Movie Festival started in 1996 in Jakarta
to satisfy the Indonesian public's interest in French movies.

Twelve movies -- cartoons, thrillers, comedies -- are
presented in each festival, of which about 95 percent are
exported movies.

There was also this year a retrospective exhibition about
French musical movies and some Indonesians and Asiatic movies,
among them the first French-Indonesian movie ever produced:
Telegram by Slamet Rahardjo Djarot, which hasn't been screened in
France yet.

Marc Piton, Cultural and Audio-visual French Embassy
Councillor, said: "The Festival is the result of the audio-visual
cooperation between Indonesia and France, which helps promotion
of French movies in Indonesia and opens a window to a better
promotion of Indonesian movies in France."

Artistic partnership

Founded in 1954, the CCF has played an important role to boost
artistic partnership with Indonesians artists, in events like the
recent seminar on contemporary music, or with the play Les
Paravents (the Folding Screens) by the famous French writer Jean
Genet.

The AFAA helps Indonesian artists intending to visit France
with administrative procedures such as visa but not financial
matters.

"In fact few Indonesian artists go to France under this
scheme," said Azizah. The latest visit was in 1990, when 100
Indonesian artists performed Ramayana opera in the famous
Festival d'Avignon, in Southeast France.

"But we have partnerships with local organizations such as
Gallery Antara for painting exhibitions, Teater Utan Kayu, and
Yayasan Pendidikan Musik, which allows us to promote Indonesian
artists."

Another important activity of the CCF is holding French
language courses. It is the only authorized institution to issue
a diploma - the DELF Diplome Elementaire de Langue Francaise or
Elementary Diploma of French Language), recognized in France and
abroad.

In Jakarta, French courses have 1,774 students in Salemba
center and almost 1,000 in Wijaya center.

French image

"Most of the students are here because they want to be able to
speak at least two foreign languages and not only English," says
Catherine Aynaud, a CCF French teacher.

"Others study French because they want to study or work in
France, and also because they consider the French language
beautiful and romantic. That's what they say when asked at the
beginning of the term. They are attracted by the artistic and
cultural myth of France as well as by its technological image, in
medicine for example."

The students are mostly aged between 17 an 35, although some
are pensioners. Learning is made easier with audio and video
tapes and games, Aynaud said.

The CCF is also a place where you can find a good collection
of French books, magazines and films. The Salemba CCF library has
12,000 and Wijaya Center 4,000.

"What students love most are comic strips, which constitute
five percent of the collection. Up to 35 percent to 40 percent of
the books checked out are novels and leisure readings and
children books," says Laurent Defours, in charge of the CCF
library.

The library also offers a great variety of newspapers, French
dailies like Le Monde, Elle and Le Monde Diplomatique, as well as
French specialty magazines.

"We want to offer a wider selection of specialty magazines
that cannot be found elsewhere, especially for the students who
want to study in France," says Defours. "Most major French
dailies and monthlies are available in international hotels in
Jakarta."

The students can see famous French movies by great directors,
like Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) and movies of Francois Truffaut,
Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Bunuel or Woody Allen.

"Apart from great classic French movies, we try to have more
recent ones too," says Defours. Most of them are video tapes but
to for better presentation we now have DVDs."

The students have free Internet access on six computers in
both CCF offices in Jakarta.

"They can go everywhere they want on the net," says Defours.
"They can also learn from 40 CD ROMs about art and history."

The large number of people benefiting from CCF is a sign that
the institution has found popularity among the Indonesian public.