Seeking alternatives for short films
By Gotot Prakosa
JAKARTA (JP): "Make one film and die," is the popular joke among film students of the Jakarta Institute of the Arts.
They often end up making only one short film -- the requirement for their final examination -- in their careers.
Graduates of the three-year, nondegree program usually move on to work in the television industry, making TV films or filling outside orders. Most become absorbed in their work and do not make short films again.
Still, there are a few who remain dedicated to short films as their medium of expression.
Take Nanang Istiabudi, who recently won international awards in the Czech Republic and Belgium, for his short film Revolution of Hope.
Short films are not popular in Indonesia because there is no place, like art cinemas, to show them. In fact, short films are produced all the time and often shown on television, but we do not pay attention to them.
Short films are films or videos with a duration of less than 30 minutes. The genres can be fiction, documentary, experimental or animation. A fictional storyline is often developed into a film with a short story.
A documentary often becomes a factual recording of everyday life or a recording of an event composed into a visual essay. Falling into this category is the Horison news program on the private Indosiar television station, which often covers unique stories from various parts of Indonesia. One segment on the life of Ahmad, a blind broom vendor, was nominated in the documentary category at the 1998 Indonesian Sinetron Festival.
In the experimental genre, the film may take visual forms presented in an abstract way. The object can be just colors, various inanimate articles or presentation of life composed as a collage. In its application, the genre is often used in video clips or advertisements (Coca Cola uses a bottle cap with dynamic changes of background scenes). In animation, the technique is used to express the producer's feelings in film or video form.
Only a few of the 300 graduates of the Jakarta Institute of the Arts' (IKJ) School of Film and Television are dedicated to the medium of short films. These few are sometimes forced to combine their work with commercial projects. Filmmaker D.A. Peransi, who died in 1993, said his peers should insert their ideas into the projects that finance them. When filmmakers produce a film to order, they are conducting negotiations with the realities of their life.
They are not free from the media industry system. They must dare to compromise in executing a film replete with messages demanded by the client, but simultaneously avail themselves of the opportunity to insert elements of their idealism or vision.
Recently, the school held a film and video competition for outside amateur film and video makers. Results were encouraging from the 25 video cassettes submitted.
From Medan, a member of the Armed Forces sent his video on student demonstrations. From Sukoharjo, East Java, came a fictional work about black magic (santet). Other entries were from Yogyakarta, Bandung, Bogor and Jakarta.
The panel of judges composed of Hartanto, Marselli Sumarno, Garin Nugroho and Gotot Prakosa selected Potret yang Terlupakan (Forgotten Portrait), a work by Goeng and Rony, and Percakapan Cinta di Kolong Senja (Love Talk in the Evening), a work by Doni Kus. Both submissions were from Yogyakarta.
The increase in amateur video production is also evident in the short film and video competition organized by the Jakarta Arts Council. Last year, there were 160 works, and more than 50 works have already been registered this year even though adjudication only starts in January 1999.
With the burgeoning of short film productions, IKJ's School of Film and Television and the Jakarta Arts Council, in cooperation with the H. Usmar Ismail Film Center on Jl. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, will hold an Indonesian Film and Video Week from Dec. 16 to Dec. 19.
About 20 short films and videos will be shown at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. They are produced by students, amateurs and professionals whose works are considered a new phenomena in the development of short films in the country.
Among them are Nan T. Achnas' Hanya Satu Hari (Only One Day), which was honored at a Japanese film festival; Riri Reza's Sonata Kampung Bata (Sonata from Bata Kampong), a prize winner at the Oberhausen Film Festival in Germany; Yulianto Krisbiantono's Langkah-langkah Kecil (Small Steps), distinguished at the Henri Langlois Film Festival in France; Ari Ibnu Hajar's Jakarta 468, honored in Philadelphia; Harry Dague's Happy Ending, a winner in Ottawa, Canada, and Dicky Purnama Sidik's Kereta Pertama (First Train), which won an award at the Indonesian Film Festival in 1991.
Also featured are short films nominated in the Indonesian Sinetron Festival 1998 and Sardono W. Kusumo's spectacular work Dongeng dari Dirah (Dirah's Tale).
Several new short films made by young directors include Bawa Aku Terbang (Fly Me) by Lono Abdul Hamid, Halte by Emilia Tanjung, Coda by Arief Pribadi and Rice on the Street by Paulus Pui. All of these promising short films were produced in 1998.
The writer, a filmmaker, teaches at the School of Film and Television, Jakarta Institute of the Arts.