'Revolusi Harapan' wins gold medal at Brno contest

'Revolusi Harapan' wins gold medal at Brno contest

JAKARTA (JP): Nanang Istiabudi's short film Revolusi Harapan
(Revolution of Hope) won a gold medal and a special prize at the
39th Brno 16 International Competition of Non-Commercial Feature
Films and Video at Brno Cultural and Information Center in Czech.

The 21-minute film won Best Film in the Amateur category on
Sunday after competing with 52 other short films from various
countries in the final, Nanang said in a facsimile sent from
Prague on Tuesday.

In his film, Nanang shows how people critical of social
conditions are murdered. Nobody knows when or why they are
killed. What is more tragic is the fact that nobody seems to
care.

"The film is merely fictional... but it is based on common
happenings during the Soeharto regime," according to the pamphlet
about the film.

Revolusi Harapan, as well as Altamira by Attila Mispal from
Hungary, won special prize awards for being the most interesting
films at the festival.

Nanang won 10,000 koruna (US$357).

The gold medal for Independent Professional category was
presented to Freedom, My Love by Jean Luc Geget of France,
Bonfire Night by Sharon Amrani from Egypt won the gold medal in
the Student category. I'm Starving by Yau Ching from U.S. and
Owl's River by Daniel Svatek from Czech won silver medals in the
Independent Professional category and Amateur category
respectively. The silver medals in the Student category went to
three young directors from Greece, the U.S. and Switzerland.

The top prize was awarded to Le Souffle d'Elian's by Cimon
Charest of Canada.

Nanang's Revolusi Harapan emerged the winner in the Short Film
Festival organized by the Jakarta Arts Council earlier this year.
Nanang has made three other films: Tembang Senja (Twilight Song,
1992), Tembang Kecil dari Sudut Kota (The Down Town Blues, 1995)
and Siklus (The Cycle, 1996). He produced these while a student
at the Jakarta Arts Institute's School of Film and Television.

Revolusi Harapan is about people's hopes to express their
ideas. The film shows that freedom of expression only works on
paper and cannot be implemented in real life.

The short film was financed collectively by Nanang and the
actors, who call themselves God Spirits Production. The film was
also entered in several other international festivals, including
in Croatia and Belgium. (Gotot Prakoso)