Watching Indonesian short films on the Internet

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.