Cooperation between film, TV industries
Cooperation between film, TV industries
JAKARTA (JP): Pessimism is the general mood of those involved in the motion-picture industry, from actors and actresses, directors, producers and movie theater owners. Flourishing television stations are one reason behind this dark mood. Many have changed direction and it seems that everybody is producing tele-novellas.
Such a shift could have been avoided if television stations worked hand in hand with the film industry.
The latest step toward that direction was taken by Sophan Sophiaan, chairman of the Television and Film Employees Organization, in cooperation with PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri, owners of the private television station Indosiar.
Unfortunately, the cooperation turned out to be a disaster. Indosiar screened Sophan's film Sesal (Regret) at the same time as it was released in cinemas. The result was not surprising. Cinema attendance was less than 300 people.
But this was not the first disaster. Putu Wijaya's film Plong (Relief) was shown on the educational television station TPI, as well as a number of campuses across Indonesia, when it had not even been released in cinemas yet.
Despite this discouraging experience, many believe that cooperation between the film industry and television industry may yield better results if handled properly.
The following comments reveal the mixed attitudes toward the local film industry and its challenges, the threat from television and what should be done to promote a healthier competition between the two in this era of television domination.
H.M. Johan Tjasmadi, screen writer, director and chairman of the Association of Indonesian Movie Owners: The Indonesian movie industry should look to the mechanism in Hollywood, the center of film culture.
Films are grouped into two main categories, one for cinema and one for television.
"The film market mechanism in the U.S. is called 'window time'. Under this mechanism, films produced for the cinema may be shown on television, but not the other way round," he said.
In the U.S., a film may be distributed in video cassettes or laser discs six months after its premier screening. It takes another six months before it is allowed to be screened on cable television and another six months on any television network.
"This means that it takes one and a half years for a film to reach public television audiences," he explained.
Sophan Sophiaan, actor, director and chairman of the Television and Film Employees Organization:
The future will remain bleak for the Indonesian film industry as long as the government restricts freedom of creativity and people involved in the film industry fail to be professional.
"Take my film, Sesal, which was aired by Indosiar on the first night of its release. The film was not censored by the Film Censorship Board but four minutes were cut by Indosiar," Sophan, who is also a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party faction, said.
The deleted scene from the film, about a female diplomat and her family, was a meeting at the office of the Indonesian embassy in Germany, where diplomats discussed an "embarrassing" use of international aid by the government.
"I told them they should have consulted me because, as director, I hold the copyright; I might have suggested they just insert a commercial to replace the scene," he lamented.
The incident only intensified his conviction that the future remains bleak for the film industry as long as the government restricts freedom of creativity and lack of professionalism in those involved in the film industry.
"That's why our organization is not a union, because a union, like the directors' guild in Hollywood, is comprised of real professionals. A union would secure jobs for its members and be held responsible for any of its member's misconduct. A union would not need recognition from the government."
According to Sophan, his organization is heading in that direction, being a guild/union. The problem is, no one is interested in upgrading themselves, even though the organization has held workshops on various topics such as script writing techniques and other skills necessary for directors and people involved in film crews.
Turino Djunaedi, producer, director and chairman of the Indonesia Motion Picture Producers Association:
Indonesian motion pictures have lost the competition against foreign films on the big screen as well as on television. American film industries have all the necessary elements to make good films, which local films don't have. These are money, sophisticated technical means and freedom of expression.
They are not reluctant to spend a lot of money to make a film because their market is worldwide, while the market of the Indonesian film industry is only Indonesia.
Also, due to fears of censorship, local filmmakers abstain from touching on some sensitive themes, like corruption, which might be interesting and saleable to the middle-upper class society. They escape this by producing films which do not require a big budget or sophisticated technical means. They make sex films. At first they were rather hesitant to make such films, but after seeing that the censorship board released Basic Instinct, they plagiarized it.
The government and film industry need to discuss what is, and is not permitted, so that there is some kind of certainty among local film makers that their films will not be butchered by the censorship board.
However, given the current situation, we are not pessimistic over the prospects of the Indonesian film industry. We should try again to create quality films for the appreciation of the middle- upper class society.
This year, the Indonesian Film Council and the government will jointly fund the making of two quality films by two celebrated directors, Garin Nugroho and Nano Riantiarno. The films are respectively titled Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (Moon Pierced by Weeds) and Cimeng 2005 (The Last Prima Donna). Each is to get Rp 680 million (US$309,090) in funds.
With these films, we hope to revive the middle-upper class public's appreciation toward Indonesian films.
Zainal Bintang, secretary general of the Indonesian Film Artists Union:
Under the rulings issued late last year, there will be a new Censorship Board and the National Advisory Council. The latter is the replacement of the Film Council.
The establishment of the new bodies is based on the 1992 law on film which recognizes the wish of the film industry to have an independent film council and an independent censorship council.
Hopefully I'm wrong, but the name National Film Advisory Council suggests that the new body, although structurally independent of the Ministry of Information, will have limited authority.
Structurally, the new body will be independent because the chairman is no longer the Director General of Radio, TV and Films. But, as an "advisory council", it appears that it will not have any authority, unlike the Film Council which had operational status and could actually produce films. Also, it is still not clear where the budget will come from.
If it turns out that the new Council will only have an advisory status, it means the government has only partially met our requests for an "independent" council.
Noorca Massardi, journalist and film critic:
To encourage a more lively film condition, the government should not hesitate in subsidizing Indonesian film production.
I think television stations can actually help revive the big screen movie industry, and fight the domination of American movies, by financing the production of local big screen movies. This system has been widely implemented in France. Canal Plus station, for example, also produces big screen movies which later, after being circulated in cinemas, are screened on television as well.
If the five private stations in Indonesia cooperated and invested in film production, they could distribute the films in cinemas first. The next step would be for the films to be shown on one of the stations and the money received from advertisements divided among the television stations, based on their investment share in the film. If Channel X invested 20 percent of the production costs, it would get 20 percent of the advertising revenue, plus a percentage of what they reaped in from the film's circulation in cinemas. There would be no problem of which television station showed the film because they all still get a profit from the advertisements.
A cooperation like this can be strong and attract a large number of viewers because the television stations can advertise the films intensively. Nowadays, if it is not the television stations who produce big screen movies, who can? Because it is only these that have the big capital. If a film can be produced in one month, there will be 12 films a year. If each station produces one, that can be up to 60 films a year. It is not only good for the film industry but also for the sake of the television stations themselves, because they also need films for their audiences.
With their big capital, they can produce films using modern techniques, like those used by Hollywood and they can give better payments to film directors or scenario writers.
Currently, big names like Arifin C. Noer are only paid about Rp 3 million (around US$1,363) a film. Why not pay him better so he can produce something better? I believe that if they pay better there will be more people willing to be involved and it can also raise the quality of local films. (als/anr/jsk/M.M.S. Marthawienata)