Christine Hakim at the Deauville Asian Film Festival

Christine Hakim at the Deauville Asian Film Festival

Kunang Helmi, Contributor, Paris

On Friday morning of 11th March, the grande dame of Indonesian cinema, Christine Hakim, sat with graceful poise for this interview. We were surrounded by the old-fashioned glamor of the lobby of the grandest hotel in this posh French seaside resort. The ceilings of the lobby of The Royal Hotel are at least 20 meters high.

Although the actress comes from a devout Muslim family, her parents named her Christine because she was born on Christmas day.

Here in Deauville with green highlights in her jet-black hair, Hakim sported a chic and contemporary look, while all the time remaining a classic Indonesian beauty. Even at forty plus years, she reminds us of her fresh, young image in Teguh Karya's Cinta Pertama, made just 32 years ago in 1974 when she was sixteen. Her passionate enthusiasm is still as infectious as ever.

Two nights before, on March 9, 2005, Christine was honored in a special tribute by Pathe talent scout Pierre Rissient. This was the highlight of the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Film Festival in this small town about 200 kilometers from Paris on the coast of Normandy. Five films selected from her fifteen films were shown here during the festival: Putri Gunung Ledang (2004 -- The Princess from Mount Ledang)), Daun Diatas Bantal (1998 -- Leaf on a Pillow), Tjoet Nya `Dhien (1988 -- Woman of Courage), Di Balik Kelambu (1983 -- Under the Mosquito Net) and Ponirah Terpidana (1982 -- Ponirah Condemned).

That night Christine mentioned in her acceptance speech that she had just come back from Aceh and thanked the French people for their quick response to the calamity. She had seen and talked to French firemen on the spot in Aceh during her ten visits to the tsunami-hit province.

Christine came back from her last visit to Aceh only two days before she left for France to participate in the festival. It seemed fitting that she had played the role of the Acehnese heroine in the Eros Djarot film Tjoet Nya 'Dhien in 1988. Christine mentioned in the interview that she had been asked by the Indonesian government to produce a documentary on Aceh.

As guest of honor, Christine modestly said two days later that she felt Indonesia was also honored: "When the festival organizers through my friend Pierre Rissient approached me in October last year, I made sure that my schedule would allow me to accept the invitation. France has always brought me luck. In Asia my second home is Japan, and in Europe it is France!"

For the first time Christine was able to bring her mother along with her. Her father, who is approaching eighty, declined for health reasons: "All my professional life I went on journeys abroad without my parents, who only heard about it all after I came back. My parents gave me the courage to begin and carry on with my film career. I wanted them to participate directly in at least one international film festival."

Years ago, at junior high school in Jakarta before she was discovered by the late Teguh Karya in an Indonesian fashion magazine, she dreamt of becoming an architect or psychologist. Christine's striking beauty is colored by the looks of her paternal grandmother from the ethnic melting pot of Banten, on the West Java coast. Her mother originates from Central Java but has Egyptian ancestors.

Christine says that she now realizes that after reluctantly accepting Karya's offer of a role in the film Cinta Pertama, her career enabled her to experience life by playing various roles in movies made by many Indonesian directors: "I became a sort of psychologist when analyzing my various roles in order to play them more convincingly. The films provided me with sociological studies of Indonesia because of their content, and even politics came into my career because I was able to pass on important messages to a large audience."

The famous actress went on to say that researching Indonesian history is also part of her job. For example, she had to undertake this for her role in Tjoet Nya `Dhien. The same applied in the case of her role as an old woman servant of the Majapahit princess, Gusti Puteri Retno Dumillah, in the Malaysian film epic The Princess from Mount Ledang, which was directed by Saw Teong Hin and released in 2004. She was consulted by the director before the making of the film.

The charming Christine first came to France in 1983. She was invited to present 14 Indonesian films at the Nantes Three Continents Film Festival, which takes place every year at the end of November. She acted in 7 of the films shown, with works by Wim Umboh, Syuman Jaya, Teguh Karya and Slamet Raharjo among the selection. Since then her special relationship with France and the directors of various festivals, including Cannes, Nantes and Deauville, have furthered the cause of Indonesian filmmakers in their endeavors to transcend the national film scene and break into the international orbit.

Christine Hakim was first invited as an observer to the Cannes Film Festival in 1985 by Pierre Rissient, who helped the film Tjoet come to Cannes in the Semaine de la Critique section in 1988. Later on, the same Pierre Rissient promoted Garin Nugroho's film, a first production by Christine Hakim, Leaf on a Pillow, and it was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section in 1998, a notch higher in the festival hierarchy. The second co-production by Christine Hakim Films was a film directed by Nan Triveni Achnas, Whispering Sands, shown at the Deauville Film Festival in early 2002.

In that same year, Christine was invited to become a member of the international jury at the Cannes Film Festival, helping to put Indonesia even more clearly on the world film map. Christine said she hoped that one of the next big Indonesian films by a young director would be chosen to participate in the competition for the most important prize at the Cannes Film Festival. That day would be a golden day for her, as she reiterated several times.

The producer Christine Hakim remembers: "I eventually realized that instead of waiting for a director to appeal to me to play a certain role in a certain film, I could myself also look for film directors whose films I could then produce, besides playing in the films myself. I would be able to suggest certain themes to be investigated. I set up my company in late 1997 and then immediately appealed to Teguh Karya, Slamet Raharjo and Garin Nugroho for ideas."

This was Christine's way of overcoming the slump in national film production due to the distribution monopoly enjoyed by Hollywood and Bollywood films in Indonesia between 1985 and 1995. And also a way to solve the eternal cash flow problem besetting the Indonesian film industry.

Garin Nugroho proved to be the most responsive of the three directors approached by Hakim. Two days later he phoned the novice producer with an idea for a film on street children in Indonesia. Thus the scenario for Leaf on a Pillow was born with Christine in the main role, while Nugroho becoming the young hope among the new generation of Indonesian filmmakers. Nugroho is now recognized in the international film world for his talent in filmmaking.

The generosity of Christine Hakim, who can always be counted on to help talented Indonesian film directors and actors or actresses by recommendation or through her international connections, is a reassuring factor for Indonesia's younger generation of film directors, producers and actors/actresses. She can also be counted on to constructively criticize ideas, scenarios or the like. Her intelligence is sharp, yet compassionate.

While in France this time around, Hakim was once again busy making contacts with other film producers with a view to co- production possibilities. Luckily, she said, the new Indonesian government's policy is favorable for a revival of the local film industry. Proof of this is the reinstatement of the national Indonesian film festival. Although other problems have to be ironed out, this in itself is a good beginning for the renaissance of Indonesian film, with a whole host of younger talent being intimately involved.

Christine pointed out that the potential market for Indonesian movies is huge, given Indonesia's population of more than 220 million people. Ideally it should be like India, where mainly Indians go to see Indian films made in the various centers of the Indian film industry, such as Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Kerala.

Furthermore, Malaysia, as a neighbor with a population of 26 million that also speaks the Malay language, is a potential partner for co-productions. Actors and actresses from both countries can act together in feature movies, as proved by the film The Princess from Mount Ledang. Hakim herself played a minor but a jewel of a role in the film, as did Indonesian actor and director, Slamet Raharjo, as the advisor to Majapahit King Gusti Adipati Handaya Ningrat. Malaysia could also potentially provide excellent technical possibilities for post-film production.

Thus, Christine Hakim ended the interview in upbeat mood, looking to the future with anticipation and excitement, undoubtedly helped by the setting in of spring-like weather in northern France.