Ray of hope for RI films: Garin
By Ivy Susanti
JAKARTA (JP): Fears have been voiced that the dire economic crisis will serve to speed the total collapse of the ailing national film industry, but film director Garin Nugroho can see a ray of hope ahead.
Famed for his quality works, Garin said the film industry will have a bright future provided people involved in the industry remain strongly committed to their profession. He is also optimistic that locally-made films will be able to "bridge" cultural gaps between Indonesia and the rest of the world.
But he predicts that because the film industry virtually died in 1992, long before the monetary crisis was even a shadow on the horizon, it will be slow to recover.
Born in Yogyakarta in 1961, Garin is one of Indonesia's most prolific filmmakers. His Cinta Dalam Sepotong Roti (Love in a Piece of Bread) won him a Citra award, the local version of an Oscar. His artistic films, Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon Dances) and Surat Untuk Bidadari (A Letter to an Angel) were not screened in Indonesia but won him admiration at international film festivals.
In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post at his studio in South Jakarta, Garin said that now was the time for filmmakers to contemplate, seek ideas and translate their ideas into works that focus on personal identity.
Question: How do you view the movie industry in view of the monetary crisis?
Answer: In a 1986 article in Kompas newspaper, I said that in the 1990s there would be only two genres of film: sex and art.
In a movie revolution or in a crisis, there are always two extremes, sex and art, as an expression of anger toward a slow industry. Look back to what happened in the U.S. during its crises of the 1950s, and 1970s, when the television industry was in its heyday. A lot of sex stories, such as Lady Chatterley's Lover, were produced early in the '50s.
The main problem for us here is that we produce sex movies which flop, not ones which are critical of the current times. Our sex movies are esthetically poor. Lady Chatterley's Lover has personality and it criticized the society of the day.
This year, I saw an effort to compromise between the two extremes. But as the economic crisis looks likely to continue on into 1999, filmmakers will be forced to produce films 'guerrilla' style. However, this adversity could serve to make them more independent.
Q: How do filmmakers seek to compromise between sex and art in movies?
A: Sex is basically very philosophical, but it also incarnates the animal spirit. Sex is something human and it can be translated either superficially, philosophically or even esthetically. So it has more than one interpretation. Here, we only interpret it from one side -- the very superficial.
Q: Would our society accept that kind of sex movie?
A: I don't think we would have any problem with that. It's time to offer some new values. The '80s cinema has died and we are entering a new era which we cannot describe now.
People today have access to a wide array of entertainments, such as laser discs and many television channels. We used to only have the state-run TVRI. Pop culture has reached its golden age and pop films are made based on novels and comics.
Film has an important new role today. In western countries, the movie industry has been competing with the audio-visual industry and TV. But movies offer more enjoyment than television. Mood in the thriller, violence, and sensuality are all more enjoyable when watched on the big screen rather than on TV. That is why people go to the cinema.
Steven Spielberg and his friends, Francis Ford Copolla, Brian dePalma and George Lucas, came up with new ideas when the movie industry was facing ruin at the hands of television. They could do so because they knew the language of television. So they created movies like Jaws and ET which offered a new experience to the audience. Spielberg was inspired by cartoon movies which he saw on television.
They were eager to understand and use the demands of their era. Our film industry must learn from them.
Q: Are our people ready for it?
A: Local film is dying because we only follow what people want. It is not professional and it has no added value.
Take Batman as an example. When that hit the screen, people here learned that the '60's style movie was back in vogue, so they adapted the story of Si Buta dari Goa Hantu (The Blind Man from Ghost Cave), but they used outdated technology.
Q: How should prospective filmmakers get started?
A: We should not be distraught by the long list of public demands. We should find something to fill the demand. Sex movies for example should be a reinterpretation of ideas. If we want to create an action movie, we should continue renewing the martial arts in a professional way so that moviegoers feel a new sensation when they see the films. To accommodate people's demands doesn't mean that we should give them everything they ask for.
Q: What about our infrastructure?
A: The crisis has crippled our infrastructure and the equipment needed to make films has become very expensive.
In Indonesia, sex and art movies could grow in popularity if we gave them ample room. The petty minded among us have also blamed things which are actually not the cause of the difficulties that we face. They have not been able to read the map of the new era to find the cause and effect of all of this.
Q: Are our people ready for it?
A: It takes time to develop art. Singapore and Germany both took 10 years to develop their cinema.
Q: What are the challenges?
A: Our film industry is in the process of recovery. The infrastructure is dead. Conditions are abnormal.
What we need now is a local genius that takes a big leap.
We need a person like General Douglas MacArthur, who could solve problems in an innovative way.
It all takes time. But we usually can't wait. I don't believe in magic formulae that can solve problems in a short time.
Q: How can we develop an appreciation of art?
A: The process begins in early childhood. It's time to dump doctrinal education. Art is education that teaches us how to experience. If I want to experience Picasso, I should have begun to learn about him when I was in elementary school. Then I would remember the colors of his paintings. When I entered junior high school, I knew his name. Later in senior high school, I learned about cubism. Then I become knowledgeable about him.
We only tend to accumulate knowledge at college. How can one learn all about history and understand it after only several years at university?
Q: What role should our government play?
A: There's no government in a democratic country that has never been roughed up. In the same way we would have to constantly work to maintain our stability if we were standing on a small Irianese boat, so the government should always be in limbo because it receives criticism from all quarters.
So it has to be able to accept criticism. Only a good statesman can lead a democratic country. We need to create an argumentative society and a multicultural society which can accommodate different ideas.
There are three phases in a nation's development -- violence, a combination of violence and oppression, then finally argument
We are currently in the second stage. When we face revolution, we cannot argue. It makes it very difficult for us to enter a communicative society which has greater freedom. We have been trained to solve problems with violence.