Jakarta to host Asia-Pacific film festival in July
Jakarta to host Asia-Pacific film festival in July
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will host the 40th Asia Pacific Film Festival this July, a major event that local organizers hope would inject badly needed blood to the moribund local film industry.
At least 13 Asia Pacific cities will participate in the festival from July 22-26, chief organizer Turino Junaidy said.
Manila and Hanoi have yet to confirm their attendance, he said. "We are still expecting their reconfirmation. We have tried to contact the Philippines' national film committee but failed, so we can only hope that they will contact us."
The 13 cities that have confirmed their participation are Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Bombay, Sydney, Wellington and Jakarta.
Participants are referred to by cities rather than by countries in order to accommodate China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Despite the gesture, Beijing has refused to join the forum.
Turino said that 28 films and 11 documentaries have been listed for the festival, with more expected to come in from Australia within the next couple of weeks.
Judges for the festival are H. Budiardjo, Christine Hakim and Ami Priyono from Jakarta; Panchacharam Nalliah from Kuala Lumpur; You Ning Lee from Taipei; Jane Freebury from Sydney; and Tomio Kuriyama from Tokyo.
Hong Kong has listed five non-documentary films for the festival; Seoul four non-documentary films and one documentary film; Taipei four non-documentary films and three documentary films; Tokyo five non-documentary films and one documentary film; Bangkok one non-documentary film; Kuala Lumpur two non- documentary films and one documentary film; Wellington two non- documentary films; Jakarta four non-documentary films and five documentary films; and Phnom Penh one non-documentary film.
The Indonesian non-documentary films, which will be competed, are Sesal, Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang, Cemeng 2000 and Dewi Angin- angin, while titles of the five documentary films will be announced later.
Turino said that Indonesia is banking on Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang and Cemeng 2000 to come away with some awards.
The Festival, which started off as the Federation of Film Festivals in Southeast Asia, was first established in 1953 by seven countries, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tokyo (Japan).
It later became the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia and was changed to the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia Pacific when Australia (Sydney) and New Zealand (Wellington) joined, giving a total of 15 members.
This is the fifth time that Jakarta has hosted the festival.
The five-day festival will include a parade of Asia-Pacific artists across Jakarta, seminars, film exhibitions and displays and an awarding ceremony on July 26.
Turino said funding for the festival came from individual artists, artists' associations and from movie tickets.
"Since January to June, Rp 200 is taken from each ticket bought in major theaters in Jakarta and Rp 100 from those bought in smaller theaters -- without increasing ticket prices," Turino said.
So far, he said, Rp 750 million (more than US$344,000) has been collected this way and Rp 50 million from artists.
Turino said the festival is expected to provide a forum for discussion and insight between countries in Asia Pacific, "which may be facing the same problem as Indonesia, where the film business is not as lively as it is expected to be".
The Indonesian film industry has been in depression during the last decade, losing out to imported films, home videos and laser discs. Because of the dire presence of good quality Indonesian films, the local film industry has not held a national film festival, traditionally a glamorous annual event, since 1992.(pwn)