Open-air venue woos Jakarta movie fans
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta moviegoers will soon be able to enjoy a new venue for watching movies besides the regular theaters and cultural centers.
Inspired by Sydney's Moonlight Cinema, film producer Kalyana Shira is setting up his Sinema Terang Boelan (Moonlight Cinema) at the National Museum's open-air theater in Central Jakarta between Feb. 16 and Feb. 19
Scheduled to coincide with the full moon in February and then in August, the initial event will be themed "Youth and Love", and will screen four films from Korea, Iran, the Czech Republic and Indonesia.
Opening the four-day event is Korean Kwak Jae-yong's romantic comedy My Sassy Girl about an unusual relationship between college student Gyeon-woo (Cha Tae-Hyon) and a mysterious girl he meets on the subway.
"I noticed her on the subway -- she would have been really cute if she hadn't been so drunk. Then she threw up on that bald guy's head. Everyone is freaking out and then she suddenly turns to me and calls me her boyfriend," the student tells us during the film.
Delbaran by critically acclaimed director Abolfazi Jalili from Iran will be screened the second night. Named after a small town in eastern Iran close to the Afghanistan border, Delbaran -- meaning "lover" -- tells the story of a small cafe whose owners are dependent on an Afghan boy, Kaim (Kaim Alizadeh). Unfortunately the boy is constantly in danger of being deported back to his war-torn country.
Czech director Bohdan Slama made the next movie, Wild Bees, which features the goings-on in a remote village in Northern Moravia, where life oscillates between doing nothing and going to the bar, and the villagers can only combat boredom with humor and by looking forward to the annual fireman's ball.
Sinema Terang Boelan will close with a debut feature from Indonesian director Nurmi Pandhit, Indah Dalam Praduga (Beauty in Presumption).
The film -- first screened during the 2002 Indonesian Film Festival (IFFEST) in Melbourne, Australia -- tells of a labor of love between an idealistic Indonesian artist, Ndaru (Andi Jaka), and Chinese-Indonesian interior design student, Tania (Sanchia Tryphosa).
Sinema Terang Boelan at the National Museum's open-air theater on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat 21, Central Jakarta. Schedule: Feb. 16 My Sassy Girl at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 Delbaran at 7:15 p.m., Wild Bees at 9:30 p.m. Feb. 18 Wild Bees at 7:15 p.m., My Sassy Girl at 9:30 p.m. Feb. 19 Delbaran at 7:15 p.m., Indah Dalam Praduga at 9:45 p.m.
Tickets costing Rp 20,000 can be obtained at JAMZ pub from Feb. 13, and at the venue before each screening.
For more information, please contact Budi/Rio 021-9191946.