Is a national film industry revival possible or just a dream?

By Gotot Prakosa

JAKARTA (JP): George Kamarullah organized a discussion entitled Revival of the Indonesian Film Industry on Nov. 16 at Cipta III Gallery in Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center. George is an active filmmaker and is a cameramen and film editor by profession.

George believed that it might be possible to bring about a revival by bringing together representatives of various organizations active in the national film industry.

He suggested that they sit down together with representatives of the ministries of information, home affairs, trade, education, and arts and culture for rational discussions on the national film industry.

It was hoped that the ensuing debate would result in the emergence of a common vision for the national film industry which would form a platform from which to launch an attempt to change the way films are viewed, namely from crafts to industrial products.

George said that to strengthen the national film industry it would not be enough to meet the challenge armed with only one point of view, for example viewing films as mere commodities.

He also said that there was a dearth of skilled personnel in the Indonesian film making world.

He pointed out that education institutes catering to students aspiring to a career in film making do not produce enough skilled personnel. The Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) Film School turns out only 20 graduates every year, not much for a country of 200 million people.

Furthermore, only a small proportion of these graduates dedicate themselves to films, with the majority going on to careers in television production. The same can be said of film courses run by the Citra Foundation.

George said the country will need to wait until at least 2010 before it will be possible to treat film making as an industrial activity.

But to get to that point, film makers must begin promoting the idea immediately. He suggested introducing studies of the film industry in the elementary school curriculum, just like drawing and literature. At least then, George maintained, a knowledge of films would be instilled at a very early stage.

This way, when someone decides to study films at university level, he or she will not have to start from scratch. Another advantage would be laymen's improved appreciation of films, something which George said would help the public to tell the good films from the bad ones.

The Indonesian film industry had its heyday during the 1970s and the 1980s. During this period, an average of over 130 titles were produced every year. Unfortunately, film production has been in steady decline since 1990.

In 1990, 115 titles were produced and in 1991 this number fell to 57. In 1992, 1994 and 1995 37, 24 and 16 titles were produced respectively. In 1996, production rose slightly to 29 titles, but this fell again to 27 titles in 1997.

Many theories have been forwarded to explain this sharp decline. It has been attributed to causes as varied as monopoly rights in the distribution sector -- held by Sineplex 21, a company owned by the Subentra group -- and Indonesia's entry to the Motion Picture Export Association of America.

The association controls the distribution of all American films in Indonesia. Another reason for the sharp drop is the growth in television film production. You don't have to pay and you can watch the films from the comfort of your own home.

On the domestic front, many government polices favor film distributors ahead of film makers.

In any case, that was all before the economic crisis hit the country in July 1997.

It is undeniable that efforts have been made to promote the Indonesian film industry. In 1974, while minister of information, Mashuri introduced a levy on imported films. The levy was set at Rp 3 million on each film imported and the money was to be paid into a fund which would later be used to promote Indonesian films.

Collection of the levy was entrusted to the National Film Council (DFN). When the council became the National Film Advisory Board in 1992, the government took charge of collecting the levies, leaving the board to advise the minister of information on film matters.

Members of the board are all presidential appointees. The board's chairman, Djohan Tjasmadi, once went on the record to deny that he was guilty of misuse of the funds raised through the levy on film imports. Over Rp 200 billion was collected through the levy, of which only Rp 3 billion remains.

The disappearance of money in the fund became of such concern that the matter was raised by the Committee for Concern Over National Films. It was alleged that Ministry of Information had embezzled some of the money while most of the remainder had been spend on projects completely unrelated to the national film industry.

Dewabrata, who is a former director general of radio, television and films in the ministry, said the funds were spent on organizing annual Indonesian Film Festivals up to 1990 and on subsidizing the production of good films.

It was hoped these films would do well at international film festivals and thereby promote Indonesian culture. Films subsidized using money from the fund include Titian Serambut Dibelah Tujuh by Chairul Umam, Perawan di Sarang Penyamun by Asrul Sani, Daun Di Atas Bantal by Garin Nugroho, Telegram by Slamet Rahardjo and Sri by Marselli Sumarno.

Part of the money was spent on sending Indonesian delegations to foreign film festivals, Dewabrata said.

Mualim Suketi said he regretted that use of the huge fund had not been transparently accounted for.

The film maker also said that subsidies were only given to a select group of people consisting largely of established industry names. Only Garin and Slamet used the subsidies to produce innovation pieces of work, he said, adding that it would have been better to use the money to help young up-and-coming films makers such as IKJ graduates, some of whom have won awards in international festivals for their work.

At the discussion, it turned out that George's views on the matter were not universally popular because he believes that efforts to revive the national film industry should be spearheaded by the government.

Five days earlier on Nov. 11, Rosihan Anwar, Abdi Surya Adhi and the chairman of the Indonesian Association of Film Producers met President Habibie. They told him about the present condition of the national film industry and asked for government financial assistance.

Many participants in the discussion disagreed with George's view and said that the desired revival should not be made to rely upon government assistance.

Although nobody disputes the fact that the national film industry is in the doldrums, factions within the industry differ widely on the best way to bring about a revival. To them I say: All ways are possible. The most important thing is action.

(The writer is a filmmaker and a lecturer at FFTV, IKJ)