In ARKIPEL 2015 - Grand Illusion, Asian Young Curator, Film Screening Reviews

Penayangan Filem Kompetisi Internasional 9 Batas.

 

Senin, 24 Agustus 2015, tiga filem untuk kategori program Kompetisi Internasional di ARKIPEL Grand Illusion – 3rd Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival tayang di Gothe-Institute Indonesien, Menteng, Jakarta. Filem- filem yang dikurasi oleh Ugeng T.Moetidjo dengan judul kurasi Boundary ini “menyajikan prinsip-prinsip mengenai pandangan kita akan kenyataan yang lebih baru sejauh representasi kamera yang memberikan fungsi pada dirinya sendiri sebagai bahasa”. Filem-filem tersebut, antara lain State-Theatre #5 BEIRUT karya Daniel Kotter dan Constanze Fischbeck (Jerman), bercerita mengenai perjalanan menyusuri ruang-ruang kosong tak berpenghuni yang berusaha pulih dari luka-luka perang masa lalu; serta filem berjudul Hide and Seek karya David Munoz (Spanyol), bercerita tentang “hakikat dokumenter dan ironi tentang realitas dari kamp pengungsian perang saudara Suriah”; dan The Private Life of Fenfen karya Leslie Tai (Amerika), bercerita tentang tokoh bernama Fenfen.

Sepuluh penonton, sesuai yang tertera di buku tamu, telah mengisi bangku-bangku di ruang penayangan film untuk menyaksikan penayangan filem dengan tenang pukul 17.48. Waktu ini tidak sesuai dengan jadwal yang semestinya karena sempat terjadi kesalahan teknis saat filem aka ditayangkan.

“Saya paling suka filem ketiga, tokoh wanitanya unik, filemnya mengangkat isu kehidupan pribadi dan bagi saya sangat menarik” ujar Olivia (22) salah satu penonton, seorang perempuan lulusan Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. Fenfen, tokoh dalam filem yang ia sebut, adalah seorang perempuan yang mengenali kamera video sebagai jurnalisme personal. Sebagaimana yang dijelaskan di dalam katalog festival, melalui filem The Private Life of Fenfen, Fenfen menyusun narasi–narasi versinya sendiri dan menawarkan sikap terbuka dirinya dengan sengaja sehingga biografi dirinya bukan lagi milik pribadi tetapi menjadi milik bersama, tentunya orang-orang yang sudah menonton diri Fenfen.

Tiga filem lainnya yang masuk dalam program Kompetisi Internasional Boundary ini juga diputar di hari yang sama, tetapi pada pukul dan tempat yang berbeda, yakni di Kineforum, 19.00. Ketiga filem yang dimaksud adalah Infiltrators karya Khaled Jarrar (Palestina), Tom and Jerry karya Ekkaphob Sumsiripong (Thailand), dan Between Here and There karya Alexia Bonta (Belgia).

Berbeda halnya dengan filem yang diputar pada pukul 20.00. Ada lebih banyak pengunjung—35 orang, sesuai yang tercatat di buku tamu—yang mendatangi Goethe-Institut Indonesien malam itu untuk menyaksikan karya Jon Jost (Amerika), berjudul They Had It Coming. Jon Jost merupakan pembuat filem yang telah berkarya sejak tahun 1963. Banyak karyanya yang dipresentasikan di festival internasional. Ia juga dianggap sebagai seniman independen yang berpengaruh di Amerika.

Menurut katalog festival, They Had It Coming adalah sebuah filem eksperimental yang membiaskan garis antara fiksi dan dokumenter secara gamblang. Para aktor diarahkan untuk menciptakan kisah kota kecil dengan narasi versi mereka sendiri sebagai masyarakat asli. Filem yang di kuratori oleh Otty Widasari, dengan judul kurasi Pergunjingan Menanding Arus (atau Counter The Stream-Rumors), ini menggabungkan fiksi dan dokumenter, yaitu dengan mamafnaatkan pergunjingan sebagai basis narasinya. Otty Widasari sendiri adalah seorang seniman dan Direktur Program Pendidikan Media Berbasis Komunitas, akumassa, dari Forum Lenteng. Ia sendiri beranggapan bahwa They Had It Coming adalah sebuah strategi untuk mengkritisi pola kerja sistem mapan media, sekaligus kuasa dominan bahasa dan estetika visual dalam sinema.

Filem ini mengangkat sebuah isu pembunuhan yang terjadi di Gentri County, Missouri, pada tahun 2011 yang korbannya tidak pernah ditemukan. Filem ini menjadi sebuah sirkulasi pergunjingan antara penduduk lokal, kisah yang dibangun, lanskap, dan juga penonton. Jon Jost sendiri, pada sesi diskusi, memaparkan, bahwa baginya, membuat filem tidak perlu pikir panjang.

“Ambil kamera Anda dan rekam!” ujar sutradara yang juga mengelola blog, beralamat https://jonjost.wordpress.com itu. Menariknya lagi, pengambilan gambar dialog dan monolog yang dilakukan di filem They Had It Coming ini terletak di bagian dapur. Awal mula yang membuat Jon Jost tertarik membuat filem ini adalah, ketika ia menjadi familiar dengan Blanke Eckard, secara personal, saat bertemu dan mengambil gambar untuk filem lain, tetapi jutru ia spontan bertanya apakah mereka bisa membuat filem di situ dengan Blake Eckard sebagai salah satu aktornya dan menceritakan kisah-kisah yang sebenarnya.

ARKIPEL adalah wajah baru penyelamat bagi para penikmat filem yang bosan dengan adanya filem-filem yang biasa hadir dewasa ini, dengan tawaran filem-filem dokumenter dan experimentalnya. Asri (23), seorang mahasisiwi di Institut kesenian Jakarta angkatan 2009, mengharapkan festival-festival semacam ARKIPEL ini terus ada, karena baginya filem experimental menyegarkan dirinya yang sudah bosan terhadap filem –filem yang ada saat ini.

Monday, 24 August 2015, three films for International Competition category in ARKIPEL Grand Illusion – 3rd Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival were screened at Goethe-Institut Indonesien, Menteng, Jakarta. Curated by Ugeng T. Moetidjo and entitled Boundary, these films “deliver some principles concerning our view of newer reality as far as camera representation provides a function to itself as language”. One of these films is State-Theatre #5 BEIRUT by Daniel Kotter and Constanze Fischbeck (Germany), tells a story about a trip down to the uninhabited empty spaces, trying to recover from the wounds of the past war; also the film titled Hide and Seek by David Munoz (Spain), tells the story of “the nature of the documentary and the irony of the reality of the Syrian civil war refugee camps “; and The Private Life of Fenfen directed by Leslie Tai (USA), tells the story of a character named Fenfen.

Ten people, as listed in the guest book, had filled the benches in the screening room to watch the film in serene, right at 17.48. This time was not in accordance with the actual schedule due to a technical error during the film preparation.

“I like the third film the most, the female figure is unique, that film is raising personal life issue and it’s very interesting for me” said Olivia (22) one of the audience, a female graduate student of Multimedia Nusantara University. Fenfen, a character in the film she had mentioned, is a woman who recognizes the video camera as a personal journalism. As described in the catalog of the festival, through The Private Life of Fenfen, Fenfen constructed her own narratives and deliberately opened everything up about herself, making her biography is no longer a private property but instead, belonged to everyone-by this case-people who have watched Fenfen.

Three other films included in the International Competition program Boundary were also showed on the same day, but at a different time and place, namely in Kineforum, 19.00. The three film were Infiltrators by Khaled Jarrar (Palestine), Tom and Jerry by Ekkaphob Sumsiripong (Thailand), and Between Here and There by Alexia Bonta (Belgium).

Different than the film that being played at 20.00, there were more visitor-35 people, as recorded in the guest book-who came to the Goethe-Institute that evening to watch the work of Jon Jost (USA), entitled They Had It Coming. Jon Jost is a filmmaker who has worked since 1963. Many of his works were presented at international festivals. He is also regarded as an influential independent artist in America.

According to the festival catalog, They Had It Coming is an experimental film that refract the line between fiction and documentary vividly. The actors were directed to create the story of a small town with a narrative version of their own as the native community. The film is curated by Otty Widasari, entitled Counter the Stream-Rumors, combines fiction and documentary, by taking the advantage of gossip as the narrative basis. Otty Widasari herself is an artist and Director of Community-Based Media Education Program, akumassa, of Forum Lenteng. For her, They Had It Coming is a strategy to criticize the work patterns established media systems, as well the dominant power of language and visual aesthetics in cinema.

This film raised an issue of a murder that occurred in Gentri County, Missouri, in 2011 in which the victims were never found. This film then became a gossip circulation among the local people, the story that being built, the landscape, and also the audience. Jon Jost himself, at the discussion session, explained that for him, filmmaking does have to think too much.

“Grab your camera and record!” said the director who also manages the blog https://jonjost.wordpress.com it. Interestingly, the dialogues and monologues scenes performed in They Had It Coming were located in the kitchen. First thing that inspired Jon Jost to make this movie was, when he became familiar with Blanke Eckard, personally. When they met and shooting for another film, he spontaneously asked if they could make a film right there with Blake Eckard as one of the actors and told the real stories.

ARKIPEL is the new face of savior for the film lovers who are bored with today main-stream films, offering documentary and experimental films. Asri (23), a Jakarta Institute of Arts ’09 student, expecting for more festivals like ARKIPEL continue to exist, since she felt experimental film is a refreshment for her, who already fed up with films nowadays.

 

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