Indonesian movies gaining ground with help from government push

An initiative from the government, filmmakers and the film industry has given people living in far-flung regions without a cinema the chance to watch movies for free by sending mobile cinemas or setting up makeshift outdoor cinemas.
While the movies screened nationwide were selected to fit in with the main theme of Celebrating Indonesian Diversity, some film communities have also held free screenings of arthouse works by homegrown talent or classics such as Sjuman Djaya’s 1982 film RA Kartini at Kineforum and the digitalised Bulan di Atas Kuburan (Moon over the Graveyard), a 1973 film directed by Asrul Sani, at cinemas in Jakarta.
An exhibition will be open until Saturday at the State Film Company building in East Jakarta, showcasing the history of Indonesian films and the industry as well as holding free screenings.
The annual month-long celebrations seem to have had some level of success, as last year Indonesia recorded 34.5 million people going to cinemas to watch Indonesian movies, a jump from 16.2 million in 2015.
For the first time last year there were nine movies with more than one million viewers each, and the market share of homegrown movies increased to 33 per cent from 20 per cent in 2015. Although the local film market’s market share was 56 per cent in 2008 and 44 per cent in 2009, with two to three new movies released every week so far this year, this upward trend is showing no sign of slowing down.
"Last year the government also completely opened access for foreign investment in film production, distribution and exhibition,” said Fauzan Zidni, the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi). “With these positive developments, this year marks a new era for the Indonesian film industry. Now is the most exciting time for film people.
Not only are Indonesian movies reigning at home, but local filmmakers have also received accolades at international film festivals and in foreign markets.
With most eyes now on homegrown movies as the industry is considered the backbone of the creative economy, a question remains: What exactly is an Indonesian film?
"There is yet to be a grand strategy agreed on by all stakeholders in the industry, including the government, on whether the industry will become a spearhead of the national economy or a commodity for the international market or even an agent of change in how we promote the country," film director Joko Anwar said.
He cited South Korea in the 1990s as an example of how the government, filmmakers and big capital owners were involved in transforming the industry that later became the driving force of the worldwide Korean Wave.
"As a follow up, they incubated talents to write strong scripts as the basic element in film production,” the director said.
Acknowledging that the Indonesian film industry was still in its infancy, Joko added that the country's pluralism and diversity were unique factors that served as a challenge for the industry to find the right formula to create "Indonesian-themed films.
"That is the reason filmmakers tend to produce films with content the public is familiar with, such as adaptions from novels, comics, or remakes of past blockbusters or biopics about renowned figures.
"To ensure the variety of movies, the industry should not be centralized in Jakarta but instead should encourage regional productions.”
Fauzan said there were still a lot of obstacles to realizing a thriving national film industry, including the revision of film taxation regulations, which are considered a burden on filmmakers.
"The new regulation is expected to be passed this year, but we haven't touched on other issues such as archiving and the regulation on distribution and exhibition,” Fauzan said. “There should be a system to ensure that the government conducts a thorough report of the industry annually at least. The latest such report was issued in 2013. Data is paramount to establishing a sustainable ecosystem for our film industry."
An Indonesian woman was arrested by police and charged with livestreaming from her social media account while in a theatre watching Me vs Mami, an MNC Pictures movie released last October.
Regardless of the length or the quality of the content aired, without legal consent from the owner, articles of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE Law) say digital piracy is a crime punishable by up to nine years in prison.
"Still, such crime could decrease the value of the movie itself. We want to disseminate this information to the public, that it is a crime and punishable by the law," said film producer and director Angga Dwimas Sasongko.
The Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi), where Angga sits as the head of public policy and advocacy division, recently launched an antipiracy campaign together with film exhibition companies Motion Pictures Association (MPA), Cinema 21, CGV Cinemas and Cinemaxx, as well as the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf ) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
The approach used was by screening public service ads on the consequences of becoming a perpetrator or a consumer of pirated content. The first two ads, which will be aired soon at theaters nationwide, were directed by Angga and used the IP content of his production house Visinema Pictures.