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.