Danusiri's 'Lukas' Moment' has homeland premiere
Nelden Djakababa, Contributor/Jakarta
Not too many of us are aware that this year, a 60-minute documentary film by an Indonesian has been screened at six film festivals in Europe.
Festivals in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Finland and Norway have all included Lukas' Moment: A Journey Between Hope and Desperation (2005) on their official selection list.
The film, set in Payum, Merauke, West Papua, received the Best Student Award at the Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival in Oxford, UK.
Fortunately for us here, Moment will have its Indonesian premiere at Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest). And like most documentaries screened at the festival, it can be viewed for free.
So why the minimal publicity in Indonesia so far?
"Maybe it's because I've just recently returned home," says film-maker Aryo Danusiri with a laugh. Having finished his undergraduate studies at University of Indonesia's Department of Anthropology, he furthered his studies for a master's in Tromso, Norway. Moment is part of his final assignment at the program, along with a written thesis.
There is some noticeable departure of theme and approach between Moment and Aryo's earlier works. In his documentaries on Aceh, made in 1999, 2000 and 2003, for example, the underlying frame of the stories was the prolonged conflict in Aceh, and the human-rights abuse that laces it.
In Moment, however, Danusiri chooses to follow young Marind fisherman Lukas Gebze, 20, who lives in Payum, near Merauke, and is struggling to become an entrepreneur.
"My main interest is to portray minority and under-represented groups, be it in Aceh or Papua, or anywhere else," Danusiri explains. He admits, however, that there is a conscious shift in how he chooses to frame the stories.
In his previous Aceh documentaries, he tried to show the impact of gross human-rights violations. "But in doing so, I've inadvertently reproduced that violence in the (film) images."
In Moment, Danusiri aims to capture the complexities faced by Lukas and those around him, in their everyday life. You will not find any stereotypical references to the horror of the conflict in Papua here.
"I have to say that this is more challenging for me, and definitely more difficult to secure funding for such project, compared to films with themes like gross human-rights violations," he chuckles.
"I was lucky to be able to do this project, because it was part of my (master program) final assignment. I had a scholarship to do this."
Another noticeable difference between Moment and his previous projects was the way he approached the characters and the stories they told. Previous films were packed with interviews, with scenes of daily life serving only as transitions between them, or as backdrops.
In contrast, Moment does not present too many direct interviews. Rather, it includes several prolonged scenes set in a single space, and thus viewers may witness the story, complete with its surprising twists, gradually unfolding as it occurs in real-life pace, instead of being given too much explanation.
Some critics might see this as a liability if this film is to be presented to cinema audiences that are generally assumed to have a short attention span.
Interestingly, though, this approach has managed to maintain the suspense level as the plot unravels, without overdramatization. Thus, it becomes difficult not to care what happens to Lukas and the other characters.
"After this piece, I'd like to use a similar approach to tackle the issues of women, and of Islam in Indonesia. These are also underrepresented groups I'm interested in.
"So far, I've observed that their portrayal tends to be oversimplified," concludes Danusiri, without being too specific about his plans for future projects.
Lukas' Moment will be filmed at JiFFest at Teater Kecil-TIM (Taman Ismail Marzuki) on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 7.00 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 2.00 p.m.; and on Friday, Dec. 16 at 9.30 p.m. For complete information on JiFFest, visit www.jiffest.org or contact the hotline on 3192 5115.