Short films come up short in gaining respect as a medium

Short films come up short in gaining respect as a medium

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It all started with the bandied about slogan "Making a film is
easy" after the end of the authoritarian Soeharto era, which was
followed by a landmark film festival in 1999.

Initiated by a group calling itself the Independent Film
Community (Konfiden), the event put short films back onto the map
of the local film scene by urging people -- seasoned filmmakers
or not -- to produce, even though short film production (unlike
features) never really stopped since it began in the 1960s.

"Back around 1998, it (a short film festival) seemed to be the
only alternative. Every film festival had collapsed, following
the downturn in the local film industry," said Alex Sihar, co-
founder of Konfiden.

Due to financial and equipment constraints for feature-length
movies, short films were the best format for the festival. The
first festival, the Indonesian Film and Video Independent
Festival (FFVII) , attracted 110 participants, and the committee
has continued to receive 70-80 entrants annually.

Talented filmmakers have emerged through the annual festival,
such as Clementine "Tintin" Wulia, whose film Violence Against
Fruit -- inspired by the May 1998 riots --, won the Kuldesak
Award for Best Conceptual Filmmaker in 2000's FFVII.

Another is Lexy Rambadetta, a documentary filmmaker whose 2002
Mass Grave earned the FFVII's SET Award for best documentary film
last year.

"Short filmmaking boomed after FFVII. The timing was right as
digital video began to be a trend, and MTV just appeared as
well," said Tintin, whose short films have been shown at several
international film festivals, such as the recent Hamburg Film
Festival.

The history of short films in this country dates back to the
1960s, with booming use of the 80 millimeter camera. With the
establishment of the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) and Taman
Ismail Marzuki (TIM) Arts Center in the 1970s, the medium
continued to develop, with short films a prerequisite for IKJ
film students to graduate, and TIM holding a mini film festival.

With Soeharto's authoritarian government limiting short film
themes to those that were development related, short films
suffered from stagnancy in the 1980s. However, as democratic
forces started to buck at his grip on power in the next decade,
short films focused on democracy and social issues were produced
by emerging filmmakers like Garin Nugroho and Riri Riza.

"The filmmakers produced short films as their passport to
foreign festivals," said IKJ film lecturer Gotot Prakosa.

The major turning point was 1997's Kuldesak (Cul-de-sac), a
compilation of four short films. And then, of course, FFVII, and
the subsequent Indonesian Independent Film Festival (FFII),
founded by SCTV private television station last year.

With big screen releases increasing but still few in number,
short films continue to serve as a training ground for aspiring
filmmakers. They also provide an alternative to the Hollywood
fare on at movie theaters.

"Filmmakers who really choose the short film as their medium
are rare. Most people still see it as their stepping stone due to
lack of equipment and budget," Tintin said.

It is different in other countries, where even filmmakers who
have produced feature films still make shorts, such as director
Nick Park, best known for animation film Chicken Run, or the
group of directors who produced Sept. 11, a compilation of short
films about the world's reaction to the 9/11 tragedy.

"It's not that short films don't provide income to the
filmmaker; even for local feature filmmakers, how many of them
get a lot of money? It actually relies on marketing, but the
culture here still respects feature films," said Denpasar-based
Tintin, winner of the San Francisco-based eveo.com competition
and last year's Australian MAFIA (Music and Film Independent
Artists) Documentary Award.

From her experience in international film festivals, Tintin
realized the short film could make a viable career for a
filmmaker.

It prompted her to establish minikino, a venue for regular
screening and discussion of short films in Denpasar and Jakarta,
which was inspired by the repertory cinemas Tintin saw during a
trip to Australia in 2001.

"We focus on short films, because they are more pithy and
easier to discuss afterward than full-length feature films," she
said.

"But our program could be extended to films that do not
benefit from any other distribution."

As for the quality of local short films, Tintin said that
there was still a resistance to exploration of technique.

"I see that many short films are still a shortened feature-
length film. They also lack storytelling technique, and lack of
variation in theme. It's maybe because the references are still
limited," she said.

Gotot said the weakness of local short films lay in the lack
of appreciation.

"All the filmmakers do is exercise (their craft) a lot," he
said.

Alex said that despite the high number of films received by
Konfiden each year, most come from Jakarta and Java.

"The themes are quite varied, and they are quite down to earth
as most of them talk about daily lives. But there are no
production points from other provinces," he added.

In reviving the local film industry, short films play an
important role in helping young filmmakers establish their
skills.

Gotot hoped that the short film would shape its own culture.

"As to generating income or not, that depends. In term of the
art, it has to be fought for, as the short film's contribution is
clear, it creates the film industry. Filmmakers must be sure that
they can earn money from it, as long as they can create a
community and a market."

According to Alex, foreign countries have begun to show
interest in local short films, such as Germany's Oberhausen Film
Festival, which plans to set up an Indonesian section as long as
local filmmakers can keep up with demand.

"We're still unable to do that. There has to be a really good
scheme first," he said.

Despite the many shortcomings, at the very least the local
audience has an alternative cinematic forum, Tintin said.

"If the industry starts to revive, it could work as a
challenge, so that the industry is not stagnant and uniform,
which was why local industry collapsed in the first place."