JP/Y/FILML
Many local films released, but has quality improved?
Lisabona Rahman and Paul F. Agusta Contributors/Jakarta
Indonesian cinema saw an eventful year in 2005, with more than 50 titles either released or produced, making it the most prolific year in Indonesia's film history in almost a decade.
The year's spate of releases began in February with the premieres of Jatayu Films Panggung Pinggir Kali (Stage by the River), a musical directed by veteran filmmaker Ucik Supra that tells the rags-to-riches story of a dangdut singer, and SinemArt's Tentang Dia (About Her) from popular director Rudy Soedjarwo, a tale of friendship between two women brought together by trauma and heartbreak.
Panggung had a rather unfortunate blink-and-you'll-miss-it run in large theaters but was able to maintain a somewhat steady run is the cheaper, smaller theaters within and outside of Jakarta.
Tentang Dia proved to be quite a box office draw, as well as a merchandising coup, with a very popular soundtrack album by singer Melly Goeslaw and a short story collection also by Melly, featuring the story on which the film was based.
March saw the release of five films that varied in type and appeal. First was Bobby Sandy's postcolonial melodrama Anne van Jogja, followed by Pingkan Utari's Me vs. High Heels, a successful adaptation of a highly popular teen novel.
Hanung Bramantyo's Catatan Akhir Sekolah (Notes from the End) was about three best friends who are labeled as outcasts at their school, while Fantasi (Fantasy) was a musical starring the contestants of the Akademi Fantasi Indosiar talent show produced by the TV station Indosiar.
Salto Films Banyu Biru, a surrealistic drama directed by Teddy Soeriaatmadja was possibly the bravest and most original release of the month, if not the year.
April welcomed the highly successful directorial debut of Arisan coscreenwriter Joko Anwar in Janji Joni (Joni's Promise), the story of a film reel delivery boy on a very bad day. Janji also featured a popular soundtrack album that featured some of the best artists in Jakarta's indie music scene.
That month also saw the repackaging and rerelease of last year's controversial teen comedy from Multivision Plus Pictures Buruan Cium Gue! (Kiss Me Quick!) into a tamer version titled Satu Kecupan (Just One Kiss).
Recognition of local filmmakers
May saw an important milestone set by maker of short films Edwin, whose Kara, The Daughter of a Tree, had the honor of being the first Indonesian short film to be included in the Directors' Fortnight at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France.
The two films released theatrically this month were Lovely Luna, the feature-film debut of music video director Lasja Fauzia that was based on yet another popular teen novel, and Inikah Rasanya Cinta? (Is This How Love Feels?), an adaptation of a popular teen TV drama directed for the screen by Ai Manaf.
June was marked by a quite uplifting achievement for the Indonesian film scene. Director Ravi Bharwani's Impian Kemarau (The Rainmaker) was selected as Best Film for the Asian New Talent Award at the 8th Shanghai Film Festival.
Impian Kemarau is a very exotic depiction of a community dealing with drought and the nation's politics, very much reminiscent of Hindu aspects of Javanese culture.
The Indonesian film scene also witnessed the debut of director Rako Prijanto with feature film Ungu Violet, a tearjerker set in present-day Jakarta with adorable cinematography and appealing character development.
In July director Riri Riza1s released Gie, a biopic of Indonesian-Chinese student activist Soe Hok Gie. There was a great response from audiences of all ages. Costing about Rp 7 billion to make, Gie is one of the most expensive contemporary Indonesian films produced since 1998.
Despite public enthusiasm, critics had split opinions about the film, making for a lively debate about the representation of the most mysterious period in modern Indonesian history, namely the alleged slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Indonesians accused of being Communists.
Amid the unholy trinity of love, teenage romance and horror -- the predominant themes of this year's releases -- another film by Riri Riza, Untuk Rena (For Rena) was released in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan and Idul Fitri holiday in late October, a kind of continuation of Garin Nugroho's offering last year, Of Love and Eggs, which could well indicate the genesis of a Ramadhan film genre in years to come.
Another theme raised quite often on the silver screen is drug trafficking. One example is director Nanang Istiabudi's Detik Terakhir (Final Moment), a story combining an insight into the life of drug addicts, and lesbian love.
Controversy, JiFFest, overall conclusion
One of the most anticipated pics has been director Garin Nugroho's Javanese opera-film Shinta Obong (an episode from the Ramayana epic), produced at the invitation of U.S. opera director Peter Sellars, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth in Vienna.
Though still in the middle of production, the film has already triggered a reaction from a Hindu organization claiming the adaptation is misleading.
Finally, one of the highlights of the year: The Indonesian Film Festival (FFI 2005) chose Gie as best picture and Hanung Bramantyo (Brownies) as best director.
The festival jury was quoted as saying that Gie was awarded best film on grounds that are quite irrelevant to film aesthetics because the film proves that the young generation of Indonesian filmmakers is brave enough to raise political issues.
It was therefore somewhat uprising that Gie was chosen as the year's best film, and not Janji Joni, which, many would argue, has content of greater interest, unique characters and better story telling.
Another important year-end event was the highly successful seventh year of the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest). This year's JiFFest shifted the focus more toward documentaries and the holding of technical workshops by film and television professionals from all over the world, rather than feature films.
Another notable feature of this year's JiFFest was the complete lack of Indonesian feature films at the festival, a decision that produced some grumbles among industry folk.
JiFFest asserts that one of its functions as a festival is to premiere films that have not been or could not be released at theaters in Jakarta; however, all of this year's local productions had been released prior to JiFFest and could not be included.
The year 2005 will go down as an important one in the history of the reemergence of Indonesian cinema, due to the quantity of films made and released.
However, the question to ask at this point is whether quantity alone is enough. Indeed there were a lot of films made but what of their artistic merit? Were filmmakers producing lightweight works merely to draw in larger audiences?
Hopefully, next year will bring a stronger focus on quality as well as quantity.