“Film, Market, and Democracy in Indonesia”

Tito Imanda, Department of Culture and Communication, New York University

The Indonesian film industry reached its peak of production in the early nineties, producing more than one hundred movies a year. Around the same time, the government imposed stricter controls of the movie content, opened the door for movies from Hollywood studios, and made possible a monopoly in the movie distribution system that killed the lower class movie theaters across the archipelago. As a result, only a tiny fraction of locally-made movies were able to compete in the middle class theaters in urban areas, and thus the number of movies in production dropped drastically in the following years. This critical life and death moment for the film industry occurred when private television stations were opened in the same era, and the old movie industry switched to television programs, moving the motion picture industry from big screen to small screen. For nearly ten years, except for the low budget erotic films intended for lower class theaters, the Indonesian film industry has been idle.

As Indonesia has entered the Reform Era, a new generation of filmmakers has tried to rebuild the film industry from scratch. One or two managed to make hits in a good year, nevertheless most productions failed to gain return on investment and even more failed in reaching a substantial audience as these movies were not able to be screened in cinemas. Until today, the Indonesian film industry is still a stranger in its own home, even after continuous efforts for political reform to change the government attitude toward film content, to put pressure on monopolizing theater chain to show more local movies and to impose a free market system.

Beyond purely economic aspects, in this talk I intend to answer questions related to the role of cinema in the newly democratic Indonesia. Has film re-functioned to give formation and base for democratic discourse? Who holds the power over the Indonesian film today: the government, elements of society, filmmakers, or market mechanisms? How have political changes affected Indonesian film? Does the new ‘free market’ system optimize film potential to influence society?

Today, democracy gives Indonesians the power of control that once belonged only to the government. Many believe that free market system would give audiences what they want. Unfortunately, we can conclude that the market which is supposed to be a ‘liberating’ system does not give many choices either to consumers and film producers. Thus, while the Indonesians are busy debating freedom of expression on television, performance stages, museums, and on sidewalks, the ecology of higher class movie theaters is almost perceived as not a part of the public sphere. Debates on movies are limited to the title and visual images in the poster. On the other hand, it appears that the theater management has become the most powerful censor body today, as it decides which films can be shown and which ones cannot.

Tito Imanda is a graduate of the Department of Culture and Communication, New York University, under the Fulbright Master’s Program Scholarship. He was on the teaching staff at the Department of Anthropology, University of Indonesia, where he got his Bachelor’s Degree, assisting classes in "Culture and Communication" and "Anthropology of Art". Tito has also been active as documentary filmmaker, established a visual anthropology club at University of Indonesia, and founded "Ragam", a film foundation that promotes multicultural dialogue in Indonesia. He is currently serving a stint in New York as television feature producer for the Voice of America, Indonesian language service, while applying to PhD programs in anthropology.

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