Nosey neighbors and
the Indonesian voice
Dwi Sujanti Nugraheni (Heni) is 38 and not yet married. So what?
That’s hardly a knock-out issue worthy of an opening line.
Except that Heni, like many Indonesian singles, still lives
at home. She’s not a lesbian. Her mother asked, concerned that might
explain her daughter’s apparent disinterest in men.
And not just her Mom.
The family, neighbors, friends – just about everyone is concerned about
Heni’s marital status as the barren 40s approaches.
So what’s a gal gotta do when faced with such outrageous personal
intrusions? Get mad, get even? If you’re
Heni you make a film.
“It will be called 30
Something and will focus on my life,” she said. “It’s going to be funny and a little bitter. The
pressures I’m under are common for Indonesian women, particularly in small communities. I hope it will help me better understand our
culture.
“My Mom thinks that if I wed I’ll be safe, but I know that’s
no guarantee. She tells me: ‘I don’t
care who – just marry before I die’.
“I appreciate her concern and that of the neighbors. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re good people, though like all
Indonesians, nosey. I’ve already broken many cultural rules, like coming home
late which arouses suspicion.
“You’ll only find me in the malls if the weather’s hot and I
need to cool. I prefer angkringan (eating cheap food and
sitting on the sidewalk.) I can live
frugally. My life is borderless.
“I know what I’m doing. I’m not a prostitute or doing drugs,
I’m working as a film maker. I want to
live my life my way. I have many men friends, but marriage is not my priority.”
Instead her prime interest is shooting documentaries and
running the now well-established Yogyakarta Documentary Film Festival, turning
13 this December.
What could be finer for a film fanatic than watching,
criticising and selecting the nation’s best creative work? The downside is that the genre has still to
find clear focus in the Republic.
“There are many problems, including that documentaries are
seen as patriotic and nationalistic government propaganda” she said. “That’s
what we had to watch during the Orde Baru era when I grew up.
(The government-sponsored docudrama Pengkhianatan
G30S/PKI (The
Treachery of the Communists) was compulsory viewing for school children till
1998 when President Soeharto lost power.)
“The standard of entries is getting better but it’s a slow
process. Directors’ styles remain conventional, often imitating overseas trends,
so I hold workshops to encourage film makers’ creativity.
“Schools have the ability to show films but that’s not on
the curriculum. My dream is to change
that situation – we need to start with the young.
“The other concern is screening. We don’t have a tradition of art-house movie
theaters. Selection and distribution are
dominated by the Cineplex 21 chain, the biggest in the country. We have to pay
to get them to show our work.
“Television stations aren’t willing to buy documentaries,
arguing that screenings give crew and cast exposures so that should be enough.
So far there’s been no interest in crowd funding.
“You can’t make a living making documentaries in this
country. That’s the reality. I fund my films through working as a
researcher and other jobs. I can make
US$ 1000 (RP11.5 million) go a long way.
“I try to get my films shown at festivals overseas where
they are given respect. Then people in
Indonesia start to pay attention. I don’t submit them for censorship.”
Heni grew up in Yogya, the daughter of a college
administrator. She started to study
political science at the University of Gadjah Mada but found little connection
between the theories she was being taught and the life she saw around her, so
dropped out.
She’s a self-taught film maker who has won four awards. Her
90-minute film, Denok and Gareng,
tells the story of a courageous couple trying their hand at pig farming after
years of street living.
Janji Jabrik
(Jabrik’s Promise) features a young man struggling with an HIV infection from
using dirty needles. While his friends
rapidly perish from AIDS he stoically tries to stay alive for his wife and
child. Jabrik has since died.
Pengabar Kematian
(The Herald of Death) is about a man who uses a trumpet in a village to
announce the death of residents instead of broadcasting the news through the
mosque’s loudspeakers. He does this to
give the passing a more personal touch.
Heni found these and other stories while working for a
community health clinic in Yogyakarta.
She has also helped deaf people make a film and is now working on a
feature about villagers’ beliefs in mountain spirits.
Her skills have been refined through an internship with the
non-profit media arts organization Women
Make Movies in New York.
Last year she was one
of two Indonesian women given the inaugural John Darling Fellowship (named
after the late Bali-based Australian director) to attend a post-graduate course
at the Australian National University called Thinking with a Video Camera. She has also been supported by the German
cultural organization the Goethe Institute and attended the Berlinale film
festival.
“I’m not into poverty porn,” she said. “This is my job and I do it seriously. I
respect the people I film and their stories.
I want the audience to get closer to the subjects. I hope my work encourages viewers to be
reflective.
”American films tend to be issue-driven, while European
cinema is character-driven, a style I follow.
I don’t intrude with commentary – I’m more of a fly-on-the-wall
director.
“I love to travel.
I’ve found Europe, and Germany in particular, to be the most accessible
for independent documentary makers. I also admire Japanese documentaries
because they reveal that nation’s culture
“We Indonesian film makers have got to find our own voice,
not imitate others. Documentaries should hold up a mirror to society. It’s not about nationalism; it’s about
understanding who we are, and to make a better society.”
(First published in The Jakarta Post 19 April 2014)
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