Farocki keeps distance from his films' characters

Farocki keeps distance from his films' characters

John Badalu, Contributor, Jakarta

Speaking to German filmmaker Harun Farocki is easy. Despite his
status as one of the pioneers in the art of documentary
filmmaking in his country, he is down-to-earth. There are hints
of his impressive intellect in his conversation, but he is far
from pretentious.

For a moment, he reminisced about the five years he spent in
Indonesia as a child, especially in the capital.

"I still remember what the streets looked like, how people
moved and the smell of the city," said the Czech-born director,
whose father is Indian and mother German.

Farocki was here recently to give a seminar for young
Indonesian documentary filmmakers, an event that was sponsored by
Goethe-Institut and the Masyarakat Mandiri Foundation.

"I realize that a lot of Indonesians don't understand my
films. I guess this is due to the lack of knowledge of the films.
It's a matter of time and technology, but they will catch up in
the near future," said Farocki, who declined to give his age.

Farocki has an arbitrary approach to filmmaking, as seen in
1988's The Images of the World and the Inscription of War, where
he put together dozens of aerial photos from World War II.

The indistinct photos merge to become images that are open to
different interpretations by different audiences.

With 88 films to his credit, Farocki focuses on social and
political issues from a subjective point of view. Such an
approach to filmmaking does not offer any solutions, but it is
morally challenging and evokes questions within the audience.

This unusual approach results in difficulties in financing his
films and distributing them, earning him the title of "guerrilla
filmmaker".

Farocki chose to study filmmaking when the film academy in
Berlin had just opened and most young Germans wanted fast
feedback. Only a few of his 88 works are features, and the rest
are documentaries.

"I chose documentary because I can express myself more through
this medium. Maybe I will make feature films, but I think I will
collaborate with other (filmmakers)," he said.

According to Farocki, some 20 years ago in Germany there was
an abundance of money, talent and resources in the film industry.
But in the past 10 years, it has gotten harder and harder to
raise funds.

"The TV industry has become very commercial and sucked all
(the money) up. With less resources, the filmmakers have to find
a way out. At the same time, the art field is expanding. Now
cinemas are not the only place where you can watch films. Museums
and other arts spaces are opening their doors for film
screenings, underground cinema clubs are mushrooming in every
corner of cities," he said.

Filmmaking in Germany, he added, is also developing toward a
new form, as the intellectual atmosphere is becoming more charged
and a cross-knowledge with other arts is happening.

"The field of arts is also becoming more and more
heterogeneous with different groups of interest. Some art forms
are blending nicely. A more advanced theory about urbanism is
acknowledged by young filmmakers. It's an amazing process to
watch all this happening," said Farocki, who has also been a
regular guest lecturer at the University of California at
Berkeley in the United States for the past 10 years.

Farocki's style is now becoming more unique, as he reads
footage in a different way and moves into extremes. He always
tries to keep a distance from the characters in his films.

He is influenced in a number of ways by Goddard's films, which
he finds to have a great deal of cinematographic beauty.

Right now he is preparing a new film about smart weapons,
which is a continuation of his latest film Eye/Machine screened
at the recent Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest).

The film is about Farocki's prediction that technology will
continue to move toward what he calls "dimassivication".

"Dimassivication means reducing massive products into more
custom-made ones. In America, the marginality of culture is
getting bigger and bigger, so it creates huge subcultures. These
subcultures are becoming the main culture of America. I'm sure
that many products will be adjusted and have to become custom-
made to meet each subculture's needs," he said.

With an Indian father and German mother, and having lived
abroad for much of his life, Farocki is rich in cross-cultural
understanding.

This is the first time he has returned to Indonesia and he is
determined to relearn the cultural aspects of the country. He is
reading a book by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and is looking for Max
Havelaar's Saidjah and Adinda.

Farocki also was here to offer and propose different
approaches that will lead to new forms of expression. How this
works in the lab environment is to throw ideas out and make
sketches of them in an arbitrary way.

Although he is very positive about the seminar, he thinks the
exoticism in the themes of local films here is a bit too much.

"Most of these young filmmakers want to make a film about some
strange tribes on remote islands and places, but actually simple
daily lives can be a strong topic too. So many things in daily
life are not studied in detail here," Farocki said.

We can only hope his presence will enrich young Indonesian
documentary filmmakers and help them make quality films.