For film archive, Ardan won't rest

Tony Ryanto, Contributor, Jakarta

S.M. Ardan is already 71, or 16 years beyond the mandated retirement age, but he has no intention of retiring as chairman of the National Film Archive (Sinematek Indonesia).

It is not that he doesn't want to retire from the top position but no one else seems to be interested in stepping into his shoes. The salient point is the meager salary.

"Nobody else is prepared to take my place and live below the poverty line," Ardan said, when asked if he has been training a potential successor.

Sinematek was founded in 1975 by the then popular Jakarta Governor, Ali Sadikin. Ardan took over as chairman from Misbach Yusa Biran in 2001.

The soft-spoken modest Betawi was born in Medan, North Sumatra, on Feb. 22, 1932 and is nicknamed the "walking dictionary of Indonesian cinema" in reference to his resounding knowledge as a film historian.

A fan of Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn, Ardan can quickly recall which American films were banned and when in Indonesia.

But, sadly, Ardan could not conceal the state of Sinematek's archives, as the documentation of locally-made films is poor.

Visitors to Sinematek, hoping to gain access and view oldies starring Raden Mochtar and Rukiah, for example, will be disappointed.

The 28-year-old film library has no screening room of its own and it is not in possession of local classics. There are only two oldies in the collection, a 1935 film Ti Pat Kai Kawin and Kenang-Kenangan Rukiah

The first is based on an episode of the Chinese classic Journey to the West, relating the marriage of a pig-faced immortal with a monkey king and the quest of a Buddhist monk for a Holy Book.

Kenang-Kenangan is a collection of short-cuts taken from films starring Rukiah, Indonesia's most popular actress of the 1930s. The actress married screen comedian Kartolo, and the couple's child was the late pop singer Rachmat Kartolo.

The lack of funds is the main reason for the incomplete library. Sinematek Indonesia is housed in the five-story Usmar Ismail Center for Film Development, which receives no government subsidies.

To cover its budget, the foundation has an agreement with a business company, which occupies the first three floors of the building. The 4th and 5th floors accommodate Sinematek Indonesia and various other film organizations, including PPFI (producers), KFT (film and TV crew) and Parfi (film actors and actresses).

While SI manages to survive, thanks to the availability of cheaper resources, such as video tapes, VCDs and DVDs in the market, it does not have the budget for other projects.

Says Ardan: "We now have a collection of several thousand titles, which of course includes foreign films. But for the last few years we have not been able to pay annual fees to the International Federation of Film Archives, (which is based in Brussels)."

Sinematek Indonesia became a member of FIAF (Federation Internationale des Archives du Film) in 1977, in 1978, Indonesia took part in the organization's annual Congress in Brighton, U.K.

"But in the years that followed, we (Indonesia) were too broke to send a delegation to the congress.

"We do not know our current status in FIAF. But we have not been officially informed that SI's membership has been scrapped because we haven't paid the membership fees. When FIAF was set up in 1938 it had four members but today 120 institutions from more than 65 countries have joined."

The 2004 FIAF congress will be held in Vietnam, which only became a member five years ago.

FIAF is dedicated to the rescue, collection, preservation and screening of moving images, valued both as works of art and as cultural and historical documents.

In 1936 Henri Langlois and George Franju co-founded Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, the world's most famous film archives. Young filmmakers of the French New Wave viewed countless reels of film in its screening rooms.

The Cinematheque was subsidized by the government in 1946, but the subsidy was terminated in 1968, following a dispute involving Langlois's so called anarchical working methods. The then Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, intended to remove Langlois from his post but was forced to back down under pressure from demonstrators and the threats of famous directors.

In 1969, the French government established its own film archives, the Service des Archives de Film du Centre National de la Cinematographie.

Asked what he learnt from the Cinematheque Francaise, Ardan says a comprehension of the principles of both Langlois and the French government.

After graduating from Taman Siswa senior high school in Jakarta in 1955, Ardan became a poet and a writer of short stories, films and plays. He started a career in journalism at the age of 20, writing for Star News magazine, Aneka weekly, Violeta and Film magazines. He was also a contributing writer for Kompas, Sinar Harapan, Suara Pembaruan, Republika and Warta Kota newspapers.

He has written screenplays and was a co-editor of Katalog Film Indonesia (1995) and Apa-Siapa Orang Film Indonesia (1979 and 1997). Among his best scripts are Nyai Dasima and Si Pitung.

Ardan is also well-respected for his efforts to preserve lenong, a Betawi (native Jakarta) traditional play.

Despite the financial problems that have practically crippled Sinematek, Ardan remains proud of the institution.

"I love my job because, despite its deplorable condition, we (Sinematek) enjoy complete freedom. Just imagine if a regime, for political reasons, demanded the destruction of certain archives just because they didn't like them.

"Money is important but freedom means more... much more."