Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’ Memories Of A Burning Body and Razka Robby Ertanto’s Yohanna have won the best global feature and best Indonesian feature respectively at the 4th Jakarta Film Week (JFW).
Female sexuality drama Memories Of A Burning Body by Costa Rica’s Furniss previously won the Panorama audience award when it premiered at the Berlinale while child labour drama Yohanna from Indonesia’s Ertanto first played Rotterdam earlier this year.
JFW’s closing night (October 27) also marked the first public appearance of Indonesia’s new minister of culture Fadli Zon, who presented the awards of the pitching forum, a newly launched industry programme.
The establishment of the new ministry of culture is viewed as a major milestone in recognition of Indonesia’s rich culture, including film. Culture was previously part of the ministry of education, culture, research and technology until it was split into three separate ministries after Prabowo Subianto took office as the country’s new president on October 20.
The inaugural pitching forum, which aims to provide a collaborative and educational platform for emerging local filmmakers, showcased eight in-development projects, most of which originated from last year’s producers lab. Among the winning projects were Jason Iskandar’s First Breath After Coma, Hilman Mutasi’s Senior’s Spell and Devina Sofiyanti’s The Heirlooms, which received the development grant, and Andrew Kose’ Happy Happy Family and Manuel Alberto Maia’s Maria, which received the talent development grant.
The pitching forum is an extension of the 2nd JFW Net, which also added masterclasses and industry talks to its industry programme this year, with speakers including Idiot Girls director Kim Min-ha, Love Lies director Ho Miu Ki, Time Still Turns The Pages director Nick Cheuk, Home Sweet Loan director Sabrina Rochelle, and editor Kelvin Nugroho.
According to JFW festival director Rina Damayanti, the government is looking into the possibility of setting up a new Jakarta Film Commission to facilitate local and foreign productions. During the JFW, representatives from the Busan Film Commission, Tokyo Film Commission, Quezon City Film Commission and Jogja Film Commission gathered to share their experience on location and filming support.
Jakarta is Indonesia’s capital and is expected to remain an economic hub even after the government is relocated to Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
Further awards from six categories were presented on closing night, which was held at the CGV Cinemas in the upscale Grand Indonesia shopping mall. Additional categories covered shorts and series on OTT platforms.
The five-day festival, which ran from October 23-27, screened 140 films from 50 countries, including opening film Goodbye, Farewell directed by Adriyanto Dewo, a rare Indonesian film shot entirely on location in South Korea.
International filmmakers who travelled to meet the local audiences at the festival included Exhuma producer Kim Young-min, Lee Yoon Seok of You Will Die In 6 Hours from South Korea, Los Angeles-based Didier Konings of Heresy, Jatla Siddartha of In The Belly Of A Tiger from India and Duong Dieu Linh of closing film Don’t Cry, Butterfly from Vietnam.
The festival is headed by festival director Rina, with Adrian Jonathan and Syifanie Alexander among the programmers.
No comments yet