Local talent gets filmmaking course

Aiming to prove that the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest) is not just about screening films for entertainment but also about functioning as a catalyst for the development of the country's burgeoning film industry, organizers of the festival are holding three workshops for local filmmakers.

With renowned film professionals acting as tutors in the workshops, JiFFest plans to offer technical know-how on filmmaking to local filmmakers.

Starting on Monday, film industry big names such as Australian producer Curtis Levy, documentary film director Graeme Isaac and Dutch director Leonardo Retel Hemrich will share their knowledge on writing good scripts and how to spend money on big-budget films.

Most recently released local films have suffered from poor screenplays; what results is logic-defying storylines. Most of the films also lack sustainable funding.

Among local names that have been declared eligible to join the workshop are director Nan Triveni Achnas, animated-film director Tintin Wulia, actress Paquita Widjaya-Afief, director in a number of sinetron (local soap operas) Putu Kusuma Wijaya and Video Babe production house cofounder Ariani Darmawan.

Workshop participants were required to submit scripts for their planned films and will get a chance to improve them under guidance of the tutors.

Shorlisted participants can compete for prize money totaling 30,000 euros, enough to finance their submitted project.

(The workshops, at Hotel Nikko, Central Jakarta, are open to the public. Click on www.jiffest.org for further details.)

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