House Commission VII Calls for Independent Film Body to Break Monopoly

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chair of House Commission VII Lamhot Sinaga has stated that an independent film institution is needed to break the chain of monopoly in the film industry. He argued that films produced by production houses (PH) using significant investment should be screened in cinemas if their quality is sufficient and they are competent. “A film that has been produced by a PH, using a certain investment, must be screened in cinemas if the quality is good enough and it is quite competent,” Lamhot said during a Working Committee meeting on Creativity and Film Distribution at the parliament complex in Jakarta on Monday. He regretted that film distribution is currently marred by monopolistic practices. Lamhot also highlighted the lack of variety in domestic film content, noting that recently Indonesian films have mostly been horror or infidelity stories. In contrast, he said, foreign productions are capable of promoting tourist destinations, even those already well-known. “The James Bond film was produced in Venice (Italy), even though Venice is already very famous, the aim was simply to promote Venice. We don’t have anything like that yet, just news about infidelity, between a son-in-law and mother-in-law, or whatever it is,” he said. He added that European countries still frequently produce films containing cultural narratives and heroic figures, such as films about the Vikings or Napoleon Bonaparte. “We are very rarely shown the heroism of Diponegoro, for example, there is nothing educational like that,” he said.