Amid the minimum appreciation for documentary films nationwide, the third Bali Documentary Film Festival keeps on striving to uncover more of the island’s hidden young talents in film making.
BY AGNES WINARTI ON
The Jakarta Post (2012-05-18)
“The Balinese are born and raised in an atmosphere of cultural and artistic lives. They already have such powerful artistic flair and thus, I believe, they posses great potential to become documentary film makers of great depth and detail,” said jury member of the third Bali Documentary Film Festival, IGP Wiranegara, to Bali Daily on the sidelines of the festival’s documentary film workshop on Thursday.
Other prominent members of the jury for this year’s festival are social anthropologist Dr. Lawrence Blair, film director Slamet Rahardjo, writer and photographer Rio Helmi, and Balinese culture and art expert Prof. Dr. I Made Bandem.
Wiranegara is a former cinematography lecturer at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), whose Pakubuwono XII: Berjuang untuk Sebuah Eksistensi (Pakubuwono XII: Fighting for Existence) won the Citra trophy as national best documentary film at the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) in 2005.
He acknowledged though, that nationwide, documentary film has yet to receive the appreciation that reflects the effort and finance spent to produce the genre. “Documentary film is still the stepchild in the national film industry as it’s not regarded as marketable enough,” he said.
Ambassador of the Bali Documentary Film Festival, Marcella Zalianty, pointed out that although not many TV stations nationwide care for the production of documentaries, there are a few, like Kompas TV, that are beginning to give more funding to the genre.
“I’m confident of the many young Indonesians in Bali and beyond, who are passionate enough to make documentaries. This film genre is very good for capturing this country’s vast natural and cultural wealth, which will surely benefit the tourism sector,” said Marcella, who is also the executive producer of documentary film Cerita dari Tapal Batas (Stories From the Frontier).
The film, directed by Wisnu Adi, delves into the lives of ordinary Indonesians at West Kalimantan’s Entikong border between Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia.
Head of the Bali Documentary Film Festival’s organizing committee, Agung Bawantara, expects to facilitate the winners of the festival not only to enter national-level film festivals but also international film festivals in Sundance, Berlin and South Korea. Last year’s top winner, Dwitra J. Ariana, with his documentary titled Lampion-Lampion, which described the acculturation of the Chinese people and the Balinese Hindu faithful in Kintamani, won the Education and Cultural Ministry’s award and was nominated at the 2011 FFI in Jakarta. Dwitra is currently preparing his film to be screened at a film festival hosted by the Indonesian Students Association in the United States (PERMIAS) soon.
“To have my film screened at an international festival has always, as an artist, been a dream of mine,” said the young director, who is also shooting his latest documentary on the acculturation of the island’s Islam and Hindu faithful, which is expected to join the Bali Documentary Film Festival and the 2012 FFI.
The winner of the festival will receive a prize of Rp 20 million (US$2,160). The deadline for submission is June 6, 2012. Further information can be found at baliffdb.blogspot.com.
SOURCE: thejakartapost.com (18/05/2012)
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