Watching Indonesian short films on the Internet

By Gotot Prakosa

JAKARTA (JP): The 13th Singapore International Festival which takes place between March 31 and April 15, will also feature the Asian Digital Film Festival, an event that can be accessed on the Internet.

By logging on to http://www.filmfest.org.sg., one can connect to Digital Film and a double click will take one to 8 arts.com for a preview of a selection of short films taking part in the festival. Various Asian films, including from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and two short films from Indonesia -- will be available for screening.

Philip Cheah, the festival's initiator, said the Singapore festival must develop itself toward the future.

Currently, an increasing number of good quality film festivals at an international level have been developing in the Asian region, including in Indonesia last year with the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest).

The presence of such film festivals makes the Singapore International Film Festival strive to establish its own characteristics. One way is by providing access to the digital film festival.

So far, short films selected for the festival have a duration of no more than 15 minutes. This is caused by the concern that loading films onto hard disc will face problems from the standard computers widely used in Asian countries.

Two Indonesian short films taking part in the festival are Faozan Rizal and Platon Theodoris' Bitter Chocolate and Nurani, the works of Viva Westi Datoek and her colleagues.

Bitter Chocolate, the 1999 best film at the School of Film and Television at the Jakarta Arts Institute's three-year diploma program, features a story of a girl (Cassandra Masardi), who is obsessed by reports of rape in a number of newspapers in Jakarta. In this 11-minute film, every scene or event is repeated nearly in the same character as the previous scene or event, creating an impression of illusion which escalates tension among its viewers.

In the making of this film, Faozan and Platon used an experimental style. For viewers who expect a linear structure as found in many ordinary films, the style might be rather difficult to follow.

The eight-minute Nurani tells the story of a young girl named Nurani (Rr. Swesty), who was born out of wedlock. Her mother (Nungki Kusumastuti) struggles hard to raise her daughter in a rented house in a slum area amid an unhealthy environment.

She sends Nurani to school in the hopes that a higher education will give her daughter a better life than her own. But things do not go as expected. When Nurani enters adolescence, she falls for the temptation of a man. Her relationship with her boyfriend (Erlanda) leaves her pregnant. Following the request of her boyfriend to abort the baby with the money he gives her, Nurani goes to a clinic where she encounters not only brokers, who lure her to go on with the abortion, but also women who hope to have babies and are happy upon hearing that they are pregnant.

Nurani was made by five young women. According to director Viva Westi Datoek, the film does not only serve as a reminder but also to appreciate single mothers who devote themselves and struggle hard to raise their children.

The film's screenplay was written by Lina, while Reggy Lawalata was in charge of editing and Eva Nasution was responsible for sound. Good camera work was done by Regina Indung Pah.

Indonesian short films have become a growing trend and have started gaining people's acceptance. So far, though, they can only be seen at festivals or film weeks organized by certain groups, such as the Kine Klub or Teater Utan Kayu, Mitra Budaya community circle or foreign cultural foundations in larger cities in Indonesia. Such events, however, are not regularly organized.

Most Indonesian short film festivals are submitted to international festivals, while others are continuously produced independently by young filmmakers without much publicity.

Among recent productions is a short film by Nanang Istiabudi, who used 35 mm film. Other filmmakers, such as Rizal Basri, Andy Nugroho and Rika Hendraruminggar, are using digital video in their work.

And by taking part in various film festivals, including the Asian Digital Film Festival in Singapore, Indonesian filmmakers can promote themselves and their work to a larger public.