Lights, curtains: JIFFest

John Badalu, Contributor/Jakarta

The Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFEST) is returning with a vengeance, from Dec. 3 through Dec. 12.

Much larger than last year's, it features 130 films divided into a number of categories, like features, documentaries, experimental and short films.

The festival will open with Wolfgang Becker's Goodbye Lenin!, which won the Golden Bear for best feature film at last year's Berlin Film Festival.

A fine blend of melodrama, comedy and satire, the film -- a feel-good flick that jokes about the stereotypes of East and West Berliners -- is set in the period just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Taking the theme, "youth", JIFFEST offers some interesting insights into the lives of young people from different countries.

Michael Winterbottom's In This World is about a boy traveling from Afghanistan to London, while Michael Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an absolutely refreshing, yet bizarre love story, starring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet.

Also worth watching are some exciting film retrospectives from Indonesian writer-directors, such as Usmar Ismail and Sjuman Djaja, plus a series of award-winning films from Italian director Gianni Amelio.

The European Union Film Festival is being staged in conjunction with JIFFest this year, with strong selections in store, like Dirty Pretty Things from UK-based Stephen Frears and Lilja 4-Ever by Lukas Moodysson from Sweden.

Aside from the screenings, numerous fringe events may be of particular interest to film devotees.

The Third Asia-Europe Film Development Plan Meeting will be attended by about 50 young producers from Europe and Asia, eager to exchange ideas.

An exhibition of photo stills from recent Indonesian film productions makes an interesting insight into the industry here, featuring talented photographers like Imelda Stefanni, M. Iqbal, Paul Kadarisman and Timur Angin.

There is much more to discover at JIFFest. For more information, visit the website: www.jiffest.org

JIFFEST schedule, more stories on pages 17, 19