High schools students enjoy making documentaries

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

Among many filmmakers who attended the screening of their work during this year's Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest), 18 high school students may have been the most excited.

There was no signs of nervousness on their faces while waiting for their documentaries to be screened at one of the festival's venues, Goethe Institute, Central Jakarta, last Sunday.

Many members of their families and close friends were present to see the outcome of the students' two-week trip to Kepulauan Seribu (the Thousands Islands), 45 kilometers north of Jakarta, last June.

The students were selected from 28 participants who wished to enter the program, In-Docs Junior Camp, organized by the Indonesian Independent Film Society Foundation (YMMFI), the organization responsible for the prestigious JIFFest.

Each of the students had to submit a 1,000-word essay on a current social issue. The best 18 were selected to participate in the program for free.

The students described their experiences at Coconut Island, one of many islands in the Thousands Islands at which they stayed, as marvelous and eye-opening.

"It was so great to mingle with the locals as you really got to know how they live," 15-year-old Mega Pratiwi, a student at SMUN 16 state high school, North Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

To observe closely the difficulties of the lives of the islanders, indeed, seemed interesting for these students, who are more familiar with a cushier lifestyle in the metropolis.

It was also their assignment to capture the tough way of life, vastly different from theirs, on video and present it in the form of a documentary.

Guided by several mentors, including experienced documentary filmmaker German H. Mintapradja, these students, in their capacity as novices, successfully completed the assignment.

Armed with palm-sized mini DV cameras, they roamed the island and came up with some interesting subjects.

Mega, who teamed up with two other students, Ratrikala Bhre from SMUN 82 state high school and Irwan Aulia from SMUN Tunas Harapan state high school, made a documentary titled, The Only Free Thing Here is Rainfall.

The documentary explored the locals' difficulties in collecting freshwater for their daily activities.

While the men cast nets for fish in the sea, the women have to push carts carrying gallons of fresh water they buy from a fresh water source at Rp 1,000 (11 U.S. cents) per medium-sized container.

As they do not have enough money to buy freshwater for all their needs, including washing clothes and bathing, the locals often use salt water.

When rain falls, they use anything they can find, including roofs, to collect the freshwater.

One of six documentaries produced during the program was titled, The Secret Behind the Delicious Flavor, made by Kamila Andinisari from SMU Tarakanita 1 and Rizky Akbar from SMUN 21.

The documentary neatly captured the daily routine of an elderly, overweight woman who produced a unique snack made of fish and flour, which is quite popular on the island.

It revealed that one of the ingredients of the snack that made it so yummy was the sweat that fell from the makers' bodies onto the mix!

Another amusing documentary was Digging Love in the Sand, which captured the life of a man with two wives who made a living from selling sand he dug from the beach.

The documentary was made by Ryan Agung from SMU Lab School, Martina from SMUN 31 and Ilma K. Indriasri from SMUN 3, Bandung, West Java.

The program has made these young filmmakers become really interested in documentaries.

"It's so different from making a feature movie. Here we don't create the story but look for it," 17-year-old Heryani said. "And that is much more exciting."

The students also plan to work on a larger project using all 18 of them involved in the program.

Despite technical shortcomings, these documentaries successfully portrayed to the audience the problems faced by their subjects.

This also seems to be the target of YMMFI, chaired by film producer Shanty Harmayn, who has shown interest in documentaries for years.

Besides organizing the In-Docs Junior Camp, the foundation has organized several events to encourage documentary filmmaking in the country.

The foundation is currently assisting five filmmakers to develop documentary projects with the help of foreign and experienced documentary filmmakers.