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)