Censorship snag cancels EU film festival

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): Eleven films from European Union member states made a brief visit to Indonesia. It turned out to be a very brief, useless visit.

The films were scheduled to be screened at the Usmar Ismail Film Center from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26 in the first European Union (EU) Film Festival in Indonesia. Among them were the Oscar- winning Dutch film Karakter, the Cannes Film Festival winner La Vie Revee des Anges and critically acclaimed films from internationally renowned filmmakers. Following the Jakarta screenings, the films were scheduled to travel to Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bandung.

Shocking news came on Wednesday, the day the festival was supposed to be officially opened by the ambassador of Finland, the country that holds the current European Union presidency.

Notices in newspapers told Jakarta citizens that the festival, for technical reasons, was canceled.

"At a very late stage of preparation, problems and difficulties with respect to censorship procedures turned up," explained Klauspeter Schmallenbach, the EU ambassador to Indonesia, when asked about the "technical reasons".

"We regret that the Indonesian censorship board intends to make certain cuts in these films which, because of copyright and certain rules, are not possible. It has not been possible to overcome those difficulties, so we had no other choice than to cancel the event."

"Films shown at festivals are usually respected in the sense that they are shown without alterations," said Finnish Ambassador Hannu Himanen. "This has happened in Indonesia many times in the past."

Head of the Indonesian Film Censorship Board (LSF) Tatiek Maliyati confirmed that her agency received nine of the 11 films to be screened at the festival. Of these, only three -- Belgium's La Promesse, Finland's A Summer by the River and Italy's Celluloide -- were considered eligible for public showing here without cuts. She assured that no cuts were made in any of the films, which are still in the LSF storeroom.

"We respect diplomatic immunity," Tatiek said. "As long as the films are shown in the environment of embassies, go ahead, show them in their entirety. But once the films are exhibited at Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center or Usmar Ismail or other places outside the embassies' jurisdiction, then censorship rules for a public screening apply."

Tatiek showed an invitation she received for the EU Film Festival.

"This invitation card doesn't bear my name on it. And it says here, admission for two. Anyone with this card could enter the premises. It's a public screening, then."

Himanen said the organizers had full respect for this country's cultural and moral sensitivities, and were not trying to bend the rules.

"We just want to make the point that this festival is for invited people. The Usmar Ismail Film Center, as far as I understand is a cine-club, not a commercial theater. Although we cannot control the attendance, it would still be a select audience."

Film festivals are regularly held in Indonesia, including by The British Council, French Cultural Center and Goethe Institute. But censorship was a nonissue until July 1999, when the films scheduled for The British Film Festival narrowly escaped the censors' scissors. However, the recent Mexican Film Festival, also held at the Usmar Ismail Center, went on with most of the films cut.

"Our country, just like any other country, has rules," said Tatiek, who has only been chief of the independent LSF for a month. "I'm trying to abide by those rules. I expect these foreign citizens to respect our rules, too."

Tatiek, a screenwriter and professor of theater at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts, told of a past experience in which Norma, a television film she wrote and one of her sons directed, was also cut by censors for excessive violence. It was a decision that she, as a creator, could accept. Incidentally, she was not among the censors who screened the EU films.

She remains headstrong despite the knowledge that the festival organizers have approached Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus to have the films free of cuts.

"I called up the ministry's secretary general, I.G.K. Manila," said Tatiek. "I told him that I'm standing by my principles. I have to guard the independence of LSF so that it will not be dictated and trampled all over, especially by foreign nationals. If the festival should go on without censure, I will resign my post right away.

An official of the ministry's film and video directorate confirmed that the ministry sent the LSF a letter, asking if the decision could be reconsidered.

Columnist Goenawan Mohamad, a crusader for freedom of expression, regretted the LSF's decision.

"The censorship board head is unaware of what is at stake," he said. "Indonesia is currently under the spotlight and she is ruining our image even more with her action. And she is being really authoritarian toward creative masterpieces."

Film director Marselli Sumarno, a member of the National Film Advisory Board, another independent film institution, said that he and his colleagues could have done something about the problem.

"It is our board's job to mediate problems like this, to enlighten the foreigners about Indonesia's typical censorship culture," he said. "But we were newly appointed, and learned of this too late. We could have helped with lobbying to prevent this thing from happening."