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."