Censorship snag cancels EU film festival

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."