Returning FFI to the People

Awards Night Arman Febryan

Retuning FFI to the People

The Indonesian film industry has

a long history. Likewise, the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) as an event to support promotion and a barometer of achievement, has been held for quite a long time. If calculated since it was first held in 1955, FFI has reached the age of 76 years, not including the gap between 1993 – 2004 when film production was absent.

The revival of FFI in 2004 was an effort by the National Film Development Agency (BP2N), with its chairman H. Djonny Syafruddin and secretary Adisurya Abdi. The idea to reorganise FFI at that time was because film production was starting to spring back to life. One of them, “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta” [What’s Up With Cinta], even became a successful box office.

The younger generation of filmmakers who felt they had contributed to the revival of Indonesian cinema also had a “hidden agenda”: they wanted to seize control of the organization of film festivals, which for years had been under the control of old-generation filmmakers who controlled all parts of Indonesian cinema. Young filmmakers blessed with superior technical skills then formed the Indonesian Film Society (MFI), which began to carry out “political” movements, such as protesting the victory of Nayato Fionula’s film “Eskul” in 2006. They believed that “Eskul” didn’t deserve the Best Film crown due to accusations of plagiarism and copyright infringement for using musical illustrations from foreign films such as “Taegukgi”, “Gladiator”, and “Munich”.

MFI firmly rejected the 2006 FFI jury’s decision. Several MFI members returned the Citra Trophy they had received. Directors Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana who won the 2005 Citra Cup for the film “Gie” returned the trophy on January 3, 2005. After that, 22 Citra Cup winners from 2004 to 2006 also followed suit. MFI also urged the dissolution of the government’s Film Censorship Institute. The young filmmakers believed that the running and the funding of FFI by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was not transparent. They urged that FFI be temporarily suspended.

BP2N finally issued a decision numbered 06/KEP/BP2N/2007, regarding the cancellation of the Citra Utama Cup Best Film award for “Eskul” and changing the form of the Citra Cup. However, FFI was still being held because national film production continued to grow.

The Birth of the Film Law

Law Number 33 concerning Film was born in 2009 along with Indonesian Film Agency (BPI), an agency formed by the film community with facilitation from the state. BPI was born on January 17, 2014, through a large deliberation on January 15-17, 2014. One of BPI’s first tasks was to organise an FFI.

BPI with Alex Komang as chairman began to become the organiser of FFI. Kemala Atmojo was elected as Chairman of the FFI Executive Committee, and he made new rules for judging the participating films. He collaborated with Delloite, a survey institute. FFI judges did not have to judge together in a forum as in the previous judging system but could review films and judge from anywhere. The jury was given a floppy disk containing the participants’ films to watch. The results of the assessment were then inserted into a drop box provided by Delloitte. There were 100 judges selected from the film association. It was later revealed that

Joko Anwar receiving his award Arman Febryan Gunawan Maryanto also took home one of the main prizes - Arman Febryan

Celebrating the awards - Arman Febryan

not all the judges actually watched the films sent to them, as also admitted by Lukman Sardi, Chief Executive of FFI 2016 on August 2, 2017. Since it was being held by BPI, FFI became elitist.

In terms of delivering information on FFI activities, the era of the FFI Standing Committee (Pantap) from 1988 to 1992 was the best. At the time, Pantap FFI had four fields, namely the Events Division, the Foreign Affairs Division, the Judging Division, and the Public Relations / Documentation and Publication Division. The Public Relations, Publication and Documentation Division, chaired by Ilham Bintang, continued to work hard to provide information about FFI to the media through press releases or in-person meetings at the Film Building on Jalan Menteng Raya in Central Jakarta.

The artist parade was a supporting activity for FFI to bring artists closer to the community. The last artist parade was held at FFI 2014 Palembang. The parade, which started from the office of the Governor of South Sumatra, Griya Agung to Kuto Besak Fort, was quite attractive to the public because it was attended by 25 artists, accompanied by a drum band, the ontel community, the large motorcycle community, and the jeep community.

The Emergence of AFI

According to the Film Law, film affairs are covered by the Ministry of Education and Culture (now Kemdikbudristek). However, until 2014, FFI was still under the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. The Ministry of Education and Culture then designed a film festival with a scale and echo equivalent to that of FFI, plus cultural embellishments. No longer using the name of the festival, but appreciation. In 2012, the Directorate of Arts and Film Development of the Ministry of Education and Culture f held an Indonesian Film Appreciation (AFI) event for the first time. The urgency of the implementation of AFI was not clear because the format and the films that were judged were the same as FFI. Why not just strengthen FFI, a festival that has a long history and has been recognised as a barometer of national film production and quality? As a result, since 2012, the government has had two festivals, FFI organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and AFI under the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In 2015, the Ministry of Education and Culture established a new work unit called the Film Development Center (Pusbang Film). In the same year, FFI was fully owned by Pusbang Film, so the Ministry of Education and Culture held two film festivals a year. The difference was, FFI was carried out by BPI, while AFI was held by outsiders, from filmmakers as well, who initiated AFI from the start. Similar to FFI, AFI were also held several times in different locations all over Indonesia, such as in Maimoon Palace, Medan

(2014), Fort Vredeburg Yogyakarta (2015), Manado (2016), and in Banyuwangi (2017). However, in 2018, the government seemed to want to concentrate on just one festival, so the AFI began to decline.

To be honest, FFI is also losing its appeal, and the general public is not really concerned. In fact, the aim of FFI should not just to be a barometer of the quality and growth of national films, it should also be a tool to bring films closer to the people. Currently, its organisation seems elitist, not close nor open to the people at all.

According to Firman Bintang, the strength of FFI is in areas outside of Java. There’s no need to feel down if you have to go to the regions, join the parades. “Film people must carry out FFI like the goals of their predecessors. Don’t be shy. Look for people who understand, are willing and able to work, and must be supported. But it’s hard for film people to unite. It’s always been about individual groups,” he said.

FFI is a gathering event. We get together, party, after a year of work. We’re partying. Farmers party, fishermen party. In the party there are awards for people who are able to work. After the party is over, we go back to work. If there are shortcomings, weaknesses, don’t make it a big thing.

Bringing films closer to the people is a noble goal that can maintain the existence of national films in the following years. This was proven when FFI was first held in 1955. At that time, the “upper class” people watched American-made films, while the “lower class” people preferred Malay (Malaysian) and Indian films. With the existence of FFI, people are slowly becoming fond of Indonesian films. Journalists also play a big role in FFI, because journalists will be the bridge between the film community and the general public. In the past, journalists were not only “mouthpieces” for film activities, but were involved in them. When the implementation of FFI experienced a vacuum due to uncertain political conditions, film journalists took the initiative to create their own festival. Between 1970 and 1975, there was a limited festival in the form of the Best Actor/Actress Selection which was held by PWI Jaya Film Section. This activity was eventually rivalled by the film community, which was managed by the Indonesian Film Foundation (YFI), and received support from the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Indonesia, which at that time was a national film development institution.

Returning the function of FFI to become an event that brings the film world closer to the people is a challenge, especially during the current Corona pandemic. (Herman Wijaya, journalist and film observer)

Laura Basuki showed off her award Arman Febryan