Tight competition in 'sinetron' festival

Tight competition in 'sinetron' festival

JAKARTA (JP): A young village woman, dying from hemorrhaging
during childbirth, is stared at by her dumbfounded husband,
rendered inert by his own insecurities.

The scene from the television drama, Perkawinan Siti Zubaedah,
(The Marriage Of Siti Zubaedah) fuses tragedy and bravura acting
with the immediacy of real life, part of a well-crafted work by
veteran director Teguh Karya.

The teleserial, which are known locally as sinetron, focuses
on Siti Zubaedah (Ayu Azhari), who suffers because of her
indifferent husband, Kodjat alias Bewok, (Alex Komang).

It is a strong contender to grab the prize for best television
drama at the coming Festival Sinetron Indonesia (FSI), the
Indonesian version of the Emmys, at the Jakarta Hilton Convention
Center on the evening of Dec. 4.

In its fifth edition, the annual festival has become an outlet
for the film and TV communities to show their talent after the
film awards were discontinued in 1991 on the back of slumping box
office receipts.

Perkawinan Siti Zubaedah received seven nominations, including
best television drama, best director (Teguh Karya), best actress
(Ayu Azhari), best supporting actor (Jedi Saputra) and best music
(Djadjuk Ferianto).

Despite a critical beating on the abysmal quality of many of
the local TV productions, this year's jury members in the fiction
category -- George Kamarullah, Zoraya Perucha, Gatot Sudharto,
Pandu Putra Danandjaya, D.J. Nawi, Titie Said and Noorca M.
Massardi-- managed to fulfill the festival's ambitious goal to
become a barometer for the national teleserial industry.

Squeezed from 134 titles and 800 episodes, five shows were
selected in each of the three categories -- TV drama, drama
serials and comedies.

In the drama category, Perkawinan Siti Zubaedah will face
stiff competition from works of younger directors, including
Garin Nugroho's Angin Rumput Savana (Wind of the Savanna Grass),
Indra Gunawan's Bapak (Father), Yossie Enes' Menyusuri Bayangan
Diri (Following One's Own Shadow) and Hanny Saputra's
Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan (Down Memory Lane).

Nominees for drama serials are an exceptional crop. Jajang C.
Noer's debut, Bukan Perempuan Biasa (No Ordinary Woman), goes up
against Ahmad Yusuf's Abad 21 (The 21st Century), Rano Karno's Si
Doel Anak Sekolahan III, Yonggi Sihombing's Karenina and Ismail
Soebardjo's Tirai Kasih Yang Terkoyak (Torn Curtain of Love).

"People" fare like Didi Petet's Si Kabayan, Husein Kusuma's
Fatima and Deddy Mizwar's Mat Angin lead in the comedy category.

Judging

Television observer Syamsudin N. Moenadi said judging of the
best teleserials at the FSI could go one of two ways.

"It could either go by the standards outlined in the jury-
member 'blueprint' -- educative and entertaining social-oriented
sinetron -- or those that are considered well-produced multimedia
sinetron," explained Syamsudin, a juror at the 1994 FSI.

He said that if jurors went by the book, they would bestow the
award on a show which explores a current social problem, and does
it analytically and objectively.

Teleserial critic Veven SP Wardhana shared Syamsudin's view.
In his book, Kapitalisme Televisi dan Strategi Budaya Masa
(Television Capitalism and the Mass Culture Strategy), Veven
wrote that FSI's jury members have always been generous to
"people pictures".

He said juries preferred down-to-earth sinetron in more
serious genres to those with spectacular fantasy, glamor or cheap
comedies, the ingredients for commercially successful
teleserials.

"Award-winning serials in previous years were those which
dealt with topical problems in the society," he noted.

List of winners from recent years bear him out. Irwinsyah's
Aksara Tanpa Kata (Silent Word, 1992), Menghitung Hari (Counting
the Days, 1995) and last year's winner, Vonis Kepagian (Premature
Verdict), were all packed with social criticism.

The jury picks for this year's nominations continued to follow
the "blueprint".

All sinetron nominated in the drama category concern intense
social issues.

Angin Rumput Savannah is about a doctor who comes back to her
homeland and faces the stifling conventions of traditional life.

In the drama, Garin tries to subtly convey the message of
risks in childbirth.

In Menyusuri Bayangan Diri, Yossie Enes portrays the life of
Robot Gedek, the notorious serial killer of young boys.

The production not only tries to depict the story objectively,
but provides an incisive look into Robot's early life. It also
manages to entertain from the tragic and grisly tale.

Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan (Down Memory Lane) is a chilling,
ravishingly shot thriller about a psychotic who missed out on
parental love. He never learned what it is to be human and to
have compassion and empathy for others.

The drama, both in storyline and camera angles, is something
out of the ordinary for Indonesian audiences.

Bapak, (Father), deals with the struggle of a convict father
to win back his daughter's love and trust.

Multimedia

Syamsudin added jurors could also go by the "multimedia-new-
generation" concept.

The emergence of a new breed of intellectual directors has
resulted in production of challenging and stimulating films.
Hanny Saputra, who made his debut with Sepanjang, and Garin are
representative.

"I personally would go for Hanny Saputra," Syamsudin said. "He
defines the social problem with excellent technological work. He
plays with colors like no other director in the list.

"Menyusuri Bayangan Diri might win because it deals with a
social problem that happened recently. The wounds of the masses
over this one are still fresh."

Apart from Hanny, Garin is the only director to have given
painstaking detail to technique, color and cinematography.

"Imagine using Electronic News Gathering (ENG) and coming up
with a production that looks like pure celluloid (used for
movies)," Syamsudin said.

He added Garin was known to go all out in his productions.

"He literally measures the time when the first rays of the sun
will hit the ground. His management sense and technology know-how
is remarkable.

"While others depend on intuition, his strength lies in his
intellectual prowess. It is like Chen Kaige's Farewell My
Concubine. Good content and excellent picturization. To me, that
is quality defined by FSI standards."

Garin once said that he never set out to win plaudits.

"Everytime I make a film, I will put all my energy and all-out
efforts to create a good result. In making this television
production (Angin Rumput Savanna), I spent months doing research
before coming up with a total concept."

Teguh Karya also downplayed the pursuit of honors.

"In my television works, I use my true emotions and my
skills.. to come up with something creative.. not something too
somber which will force people to switch channels, or something
too entertaining in which the content is lost."

Ishadi S.K, operation director of TPI, said the criteria for
the best teleserial was set by the jury and panel members of the
festival.

"There are no right or wrong sinetron and, anyway, who are we
to judge. It's either the audience or the festival juries."

Entertainment mogul Raam Punjabi, whose productions include
Bukan Perempuan Biasa and Abad 21, was concerned that Jajang --
widow of the late filmmaker Arifin C. Noer -- was passed over for
a best director nomination for Bukan Perempuan Biasa.

"I feel that Jajang not being nominated is a bit weird. It's
like the dish being nominated for the best dish category, but the
cook was left out."

But Raam, with a roster of successful teleserials to his name,
has little else to complain about. He feels that he knows what
the masses want and is delivering "just that and more".

"For me, the festival has not yet functioned as the barometer
of the sinetron industry. But it is a motivating force that
pushes artists to create better quality teleserials." (raw/02)