Garin's 'The Poet' wins more awards

JAKARTA (JP): Garin Nugroho's Puisi Tak Terkuburkan (The Poet) has won further international recognition as the film's leading actor Ibrahim Kadir took the award in the best actor category at the Cinefan 2001 Awards in India.

The film festival, organized by Cinemaya magazine and focusing on Asian films, named Asoka Handagama's My Moon from Sri Lanka as best movie for its stark depiction of the dehumanizing forces of war and its numbing consequences on the lives of ordinary people.

Ellie Suriery Omar of Malaysia was named best actress for her intensity and honesty in portraying an impossible love affair across the religious and racial divide in Teck Tan's Spinning Top.

The award, which was announced on Sunday, was the second for Ibrahim, who also won the best actor award at the Singapore Film Festival in April this year. At the Singapore festival, the film also won the jury prize for best film.

Overall, the Cinefan Award was the fourth for the film. Previously, the film also won an award at the Locarno Film Festival in Italy.

So far, the film has been screened during the Tokyo Film Festival in Japan, in Pusan in South Korea, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and in London. In November this year, it will be shown at the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.

Filmed over six days, the black and white 83-minute-long video film is based on Ibrahim Kadir's real experiences when he was wrongly imprisoned without trial in 1965. In October of the same year, the poet watched countless fellow prisoners being executed before he himself was released.

In the movie, Garin, who is noted for his social documentaries and films, skillfully employs the traditional form of oral poetry from Aceh known as didong. Throughout the movie, the young film director mixes poetry with political reality in his moving attempt to deal with the country's past.

Altogether, Garin has garnered 23 international awards for his films, including Cinta Dalam Sepotong Roti (Love in a Slice of Bread, 1991), Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon Dances, 1996), Surat Untuk Bidadari (Letter to an Angel, 1994) and Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on A Pillow, 1997).

Now, Garin and Abduh Aziz are producing Viva Indonesia, a film shot in various spots in Indonesia from Jakarta to as far away as Loksado in South Kalimantan and Singkawang in West Kalimantan. The new film, which is expected to be ready in October for the upcoming Jakarta International Film Festival, is directed by five directors: Asep Kusnidar, Aryo Danusiri, Lianto Luseno, Nana Mulyana and Ravi L. Bharwani. (ste)