Offbeat gems come to screens in Jakarta

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): The Studio 21 theaters are not the only place Jakarta's movie buffs hang out. There is what people call "alternative cinema" or "art houses".

These are places people go to when they want something other than the usual Hollywood fare. Of course, they should not expect Dolby or THX sound systems, or even comfortable seats. At some of these places, you do not even get 16mm or 35mm films; you watch videos and you literally sit on the floor.

But that is only half the fun, really. For scores of hungry movie fans, that will have to do. And this year, the art houses have been particularly effective in satisfying these filmgoers' thirst for international award-winning films.

The Usmar Ismail Film Center in particular has been quite popular with the art-house crowd, mainly because of its collaborations with various foreign cultural centers. In February, the Japan Foundation held its Akira Kurosawa retrospective there.

The occasion was a tribute to the legendary cineast who passed away in September 1998. The audience was given the chance to see some of the filmmaker's celebrated works, including Seven Samurai and Ikiru, as well as little-seen films such as Madadayo, his last work.

In the same month, the center worked with the Jakarta Arts Council and the Jakarta Arts Institute to screen the five television films nominated for the 1998 Indonesian Television Awards. This program was particularly interesting because the public had heard about the nominees but never got the chance to see them because the television stations never reran them.

And it was a good showcase as well for directors Nan T. Achnas, Enison Sinaro, Sam Sarumpaet, Riri Riza and Harry Suharyadi, allowing the public to become familiar with their recent work.

The Usmar Ismail Film Center was practically inundated with people when The British Council held its annual British Film Festival there in July. Film enthusiasts rushed to see Judi Dench's Oscar-nominated performance in Mrs. Brown, as well as lighter fare such as Jilting Joe (Britain's answer to Runaway Bride, perhaps) and the comedy-thriller Downtime.

And the crowd was there again in December as The French Embassy organized its Festival of French Cinema. Children aged 10 to 40 were ecstatic to see their favorite comic book characters come to life in the comedy Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar.

Meanwhile, others went to see adult fare such as East-West, France's official entry in the upcoming Academy Awards.

On the same street as the Usmar Ismail Film Center is another much-visited venue for artistic films. Erasmus Huis, as in other years, consistently screened exquisite selections of Dutch cinema in its monthly film program.

Three films that stood out this year were The Assault, an Oscar winner adapted from novelist Harry Mulisch's masterpiece; The Vanishing, a stylish thriller which was later remade by Hollywood; and Max Havelaar, a film adapted from the legendary Multatuli book, which resonated with the Indonesian public not only because of the Indonesian setting, but because the film itself had been banned in the past by Indonesian authorities for its portrayal of colonial-era Javanese rulers.

The Goethe Institute was also active in promoting its country's cinematic culture. This year it chose to highlight the work of Wim Wenders, including his Wings of Desire and its sequel, Faraway So Close. The film retrospective was held in conjunction with an exhibition of Wenders' photographic work at the Antara Photo Gallery.

Another German-born director, Fritz Lang, was the subject of a program at Teater Utan Kayu (TUK), which screened classics such as Dr. Mabuse. TUK also came up with other interesting programs such as the Gay Film Program, which drew huge crowds of people to the tiny screening room, and a Hitchcock retrospective, held to commemorate the late director's 100th birthday.

Perhaps a fiery chapter in the art house album this year was when European Union member countries tried to hold the first European Union Film Festival. The festival, however, could not go on as planned because the Indonesian Censor Board ruled some of the films to be screened contained scenes which were inappropriate for public consumption and demanded the offending scenes be cut.

The organizers declined and moved the festival from the Usmar Ismail Film Center to the British Council auditorium, with a smaller-sized audience. There, award-winning films like The Dreamlife of Angels and Character were shown in their entirety.

And alternative cinema's big finale for the year was the first ever Jakarta International Film Festival, which took over the Usmar Ismail Film Center and a number of other venues at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center. Over 65 international films were shown in a week-long celebration of cinema.

The festival was witness to manic crowds struggling to get seats for a screening of the Brazilian film Central Station, something you thought could only happen here for Hollywood products. Festival audiences also got rebellious, booing in unison at scenes where the Censor Board made its presence felt. Interestingly, the festival was also the place where the alternative went side-by-side with the mainstream, since the 21 Group contributed screening rooms and some films (notably Good Will Hunting and The Wings of the Dove) for the festival.

Thus, although its course is still shapeless and random, Jakarta's alternative cinema is undeniably growing in stature and is becoming an important page in the agendas of Jakarta's filmgoers. The coming years will see alternative cinema move forward, most probably in the direction of more regular and established public screenings and, perhaps, commercialization.