Jakarta International Film Festival, glitches and all, still a winner
Jakarta International Film Festival, glitches and all, still a winner
By Hera Diani
JAKARTA (JP): Sunday brings to a close the second Jakarta
International Film Festival (JiFFest 2000). After 10 straight
days of showcasing some of celluloid's finest, the party is
finally over.
Hundreds of people swarmed Djakarta Theater, Usmar Ismail Film
Center (PPHUI), Erasmus Huis and 21 movie theaters at the Ismail
Marzuki Art Center (TIM) and Plaza Senayan for the screenings,
willing to sit on the floor to watch a sold-out film, or rush
from one theater to another to fit in as much as they possibly
could.
Whether they were true movie buffs, film personalities,
aspiring film directors or simply the curious who wanted to know
what the big fuss was all about, the event was too good to be
missed.
Some 100 films -- some old, some new, some award-winning
pictures from various countries, some animated -- were screened,
but they shared one thing in common in bearing little resemblance
to typical Hollywood exports.
It was also an opportunity for Indonesian filmmakers,
especially young ones, to exhibit their films.
Tickets were cheap, only Rp 5,000 (60 U.S. cents) to Rp 7,500
each, or less than a third of the regular price in Plaza Senayan
of Rp 25,000 ($2.70).
An employee at a dotcom, Fitri, 26, said she was not
completely over her disappointment about Autumn in New York,
starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, which she described as
"crap and a waste of money".
Thus, she was elated when she heard about JiFFest, and quickly
made reservations for 14 different films.
Her plans did not go as smoothly as she hoped because as of
the first day of the festival, she only got 10 tickets.
"I missed High Fidelity, which played on the first day," Fitri
said of the film starring John Cusack.
After struggling and managing to get through on the festival's
single telephone line, the committee gave her substitute tickets
to other films.
Were the movies worth the effort?
"Yes, fortunately, " Fitri said. There were some films she did
not like, but she said she enjoyed most of them, such as Being
John Malkovich, Run Lola Run and Leila
The festival's director and co-founder, Shanty Harmayn,
apologized for the ticketing problems, saying they were due to a
technical snafu.
"The computer program broke down just two days before the big
day," she said on Tuesday at PPHUI in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
To make matters easier, computers were set to be used for
arrangements and transactions, especially because ticket orders
could reach up to 200 a day.
Unfortunately, the computers gave out the wrong information --
and then broke down.
Why not stick to the usual system of box-office sales?
"Well, we wanted to satisfy movie buffs so that they could
watch as many movies as they wanted. But people could still get
the tickets before the screenings," said Shanty.
The problem was compounded by chronic issues of lack of funds
and human resources.
"We were really understaffed, and most of them are
volunteering. Why? Because unlike what people think, we don't
have much budget to hold this event," she said.
The total budget spent was US$100,000, which came from grants
and sponsorships. Shanty said it took about $1 million to hold
such an international festival.
She and fellow founder Natasha Devillers plan to visit the
Rotterdam and Singapore film festivals to learn the best ways of
organizing a festival.
But at least the audience's enthusiasm paid off.
Perhaps overjoyed at the prospect of seeing more diverse fare
than the usual stuff in local movie theaters, filmgoers
overlooked the glitches.
They cheered and applauded, even at absurd movies in the new
Indonesian cinema genre, like Pachinko..and Everyone is Happy and
Sebuah Pertanyaan Untuk Cinta (A Question for Love).
While Pachinko is full of unnecessarily long scenes, including
10 minutes of lovemaking in which the excitement eventually wears
off, a man gave two thumbs up when a friend asked him how the
movie was.
It was the same for A Question, a so-called poetic love story
and a bad interpretation of short stories of noted authors Seno
Gumira Ajidarma and Putu Wijaya.
The audience could also watch distinguished Indonesian movies
like Chaerul Umam's Titian Serambut Dibelah Tujuh (1982) and
Garin Nugroho's Surat Untuk Bidadari (Letter to an Angel, 1992).
Other viewers were left confused by the surreal quality of
some of the works.
"Why John Malkovich? Why not Tom Cruise, or Brad Pitt?" a man
asked a friend after watching the movie telling how a man can get
into the mind of actor John Malkovich.
For those in the film circle, the festival was an important
occasion offering many lessons.
Actress and producer Ratna Riantiarno believed it could
possibly revive the moribund Indonesian film industry.
"It's also an alternative for us to watch films other than the
usual films shown in movie theaters. And filmmakers can learn
much from it," she told The Jakarta Post.
She watched three movies in a row.
"There are so many movies I'd like to watch. But unlike Jajang
(C. Noer) who runs from one theater to another to catch movies, I
don't have that much energy," she laughed, pointing to actress-
director Jajang who was nearby.
As well as fixing their computer problems, organizers of
future festivals should provide Indonesian subtitles for English-
language films to allow the works to reach a larger audience
(Indonesian films, after all, included English subtitles).
A serious issue that needs to be addressed is censorship.
Kadosh (Sacred), an Israeli-French film about women rebelling
against stifling religious conventions in Jerusalem, did not pass
the Film Censorship Board. It was a pity, for it left many people
disappointed.