Expressive Works at Jakarta arts center
By Marselli Sumarno
JAKARTA (JP): Some 20 short films made by Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) film students will be shown by the Kine Club at Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center. The film festival will run between July 17 and 19 at the Indoors Theater.
Several prominent films, winners at international film festivals, will be screened at the upcoming festival. The works include:
Hanya Sehari (One Day Only), an isolated theme by Nan Triveni Achnas, won first place at the Young Asian Film Festival in Tokyo (1992). The main role features a university cleaner. The film shows that his work has become very routine and boring. Then one day he followed two boys who went bird watching.
Yulianto Krisbiantoro expressed himself through Langkah- Langkah Kecil (Small Steps), showing a contrasting life of two children, one poor and the other rich, which won an award at the students' film festival of Recountres Internationales Henri Langlois (France 1993).
Sonata Kampung Bata (Bata Village Sonata) by M. Rivai Riza won an award at the Oberhausen festival (Germany) in 1994. This short film features a red-brick-making village which was visited by a group of caroussel artists. A young boy, living in his own world, was the only spectator at the performance. Then a small girl invited him to participate in a game and the boy met merriment.
Other films slated to be shown at the film fest include: Dolanan (Pradonggo),Kereta Pertama (The First Train) (Dicky Irawan), Gerbong 1,2... (Wagon 1, 2...) (Garin Nugroho), Lelaki Tua (Old Man) (Hendrata R. Saputra), Happy Ending (Harry Suharyadi).
Industry
Short film production has been quietly going on in Indonesia, even though this type of film is not developing fast, or found a prominent niche for a number of reasons.
Since the 1970s, short film production has been minimum. At most there are just over ten titles a year, all of a serious genre.
The major sponsor of short films is the IKJ film department and are really test material of third year students. They are required to make a free theme 16 mm format, five to 15 minute film with sound.
Every group of four to five students share the cost, between Rp 5 to 10 million, of producing the movie.
The expressiveness, the refreshing dialogue and often very personal themes attract viewers. They are private expressions, a rare occurrence in Indonesian film.
Gotot Prakoso, a IKJ film school graduate, rightfully occupies the front of the line. He plunged into experimental variations and animation from the beginning. He applied these two approaches in work series of nearly 20 titles. The unique and highly unconventional result combines the creation of the world (Koen Faya Koen), the relationship of man and woman (Non KB) and violent emotions (Impuls).
Gotot, who was a painter and is now the manager of Film Aspects at the Film Faculty and Television at IKJ, is extending his passion for work and teaching.
"Even though right now short films are basically trying to find their own niche in the film world," he said.
Gotot's words carry a ring of truth. Indonesian short films have not found a domestic forum yet.
There was an annual short film festival held by the Jakarta Board of Arts but it folded. The Indonesian Film Festival, now in an unconscious stage, did not know how to receive the short film participants.
The same goes for TV stations. They don't allot a place for short films, although the IKJ film school has been constantly lobbying in that direction.
Over the last few years the IKJ film school has actively participated in various short international forums. It was, therefore, quite encouraging that a number of students were immediately awarded and shown on Canal Plus in France and SBS in Australia.
The short film festival will be held at the IKJ campus and the French Cultural Center. Show times will coincide with the film school's conference and international TV (CILECT) from July 23 to 26 in Jakarta.