Where have Indonesian film academy graduates gone?
Written by Elma Adisya & Aghnia Hilya | Read in Indonesian
It never occurred to Anggun, 27, that after graduating from university and becoming a corporate worker, she would make a U-turn and pursue her dream at a film academy. It is a dream that she once let go because her parents were worried about their youngest's future had she entered and pursued a career in the film industry.
It is an undeniable fact that over the last few years, the Indonesian film industry has been growing at a rapid pace. Data from the Indonesian Film Agency (BPI) showed that in 2018, the number of national film productions reached 132 titles with 51.2 million moviegoers. The figure decreased slightly to 129 titles in 2019.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, despite a slight stumble at the beginning from 2020 to 2021, the Indonesian film industry proved that it was able to survive. 289 titles were made in 2020, 36 titles in 2022 and 47 titles in 2021 with more than 24 million moviegoers.
Yet, this development is marred by the lack of skilled film crew, while the existing crew is struggling to make ends meet. Some film school graduates eventually left the industry altogether, but there are also people like Anggun who persisted.
Anggun earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from a private university in Tangerang, so she was more selective in choosing an educational institution the second time around. She was looking for an academy with a shorter period of study and affordable tuition.
"It's okay if I don't get a degree. I’m not looking for that because I already had one. What’s important is the knowledge that I will use in the film industry; that’s what I am looking for. For my current study, I'm really excited because I'm finally pursuing my dream," Anggun explained.
Starting 2021, she became a student once again. The difference is that this time, she studies with a clear goal and is driven by her passion. That’s right, Anggun loves everything about film, and one of her dreams is to turn the story she wrote into a film, with her dream actors in the cast.
But reality is not always roses and rainbows. She had made up her mind to go into film, but the study, which would take her two years to complete, is very demanding. For Anggun, whose foundations are writing, coupled with some field experience in broadcast journalism, studying film is more difficult than journalism.
“On a scale of 1-10, the difficulty is 100 for me. In the beginning, I had high expectations, but in reality, it is difficult. Even for me, who really likes films, it is really difficult. For example, if you forget to bring a prop that is necessary for filming, the production will crumble. My lecturers all said that the essence of filmmaking is that you have to be good at problem solving," she explained.
Anggun also complained about the complex teamwork in each of her project tasks, as there were pros and cons in every situation.
“It turned out that in film production, every division is intertwined. Having too few crew members will be a headache, but handling too many will take a lot of work. Choosing the crew members depends on compatibility–but that is rare actually."
It is taxing even from the start, but Anggun doesn't give up because, as she put it into words, this is just the beginning. She, however, retains a realistic view.
"I want to know how far I could go in this industry. Just try it first. Will I be able to realise my absurd ideas? I still have some wishes, even though it might take me 10 years," she concluded.
A film graduate who is stuck in stagnation
Anggun keeps her hopes alive with her passion, but for Andita, 25, a film graduate, those hopes died long before she even graduated. Driven by her hobby of photography, Andita decided to enter the film industry, in which she learned about the position of director of photography (DOP).
"Originally, I wanted to become a DOP, but there were rumours that the career path was difficult. That was when I realised that this industry was really tough and it was quite challenging for me," she said.
Andita told TFR that even though at that time students were not required to go into the field, she joined small-scale film projects to gain experience.
"When I just started working as a temporary crew member for freelance projects, I was really shocked by the work habits and work flow. Plus, I had the smallest role in the crew who sometimes doesn't have any power," Andita reminisced.
Reality hit her even harder when she tried to dig deeper into experimental films and editorial films. After working as a crew member for several projects, Andita realised that if she had to take project-based jobs, working in this industry really did not guarantee prosperity.
“I'm the kind of person who thinks that even if the pay is small, at least I can work. But what I saw in the field was that I got neither work nor money, so why should I persist?” Andita said.
The importance of film professionals with a film background
Those are only two of the stories of prospective and former film workers amidst the massive development of Indonesia's film industry. It is unfortunate that this rapid development fails to create some competent crew. Head of the Film Department at Multimedia Nusantara University (UMN), Kus Sudarsono, said film studies graduates are an important part in the development of the Indonesian film industry–had it wanted to scale up.
"It is true that some basic skills could be learned through on-the-job training. It just takes a long time, around 3-4 years. Those with a higher education degree will only need to do an internship for six months to one year before becoming a line producer," he added.
New film schools in Indonesia are springing up one after another, but director Ifa Isfansyah said this does not solve the problem. The most important thing is to find competent teaching staff who have a network in the film industry and film education.
“The issue, apart from quality and curriculum, is teaching staff. The next problem is how to get human resources that match with what the industry needs," said Ifa, who also founded the Jogja Film Academy (JFA).
Creating a whole new, complete film ecosystem
In spite of the rapid growth in the number of films and domestic audiences, there are still a lot of issues that need to be addressed to create a film ecosystem that can guarantee the well-being of its workers. The starting point is not the field, but education.
“Films are not just about production. The ecosystem started from education, exhibitions, distribution, studies and so on. Everything will be interrelated. To make a good film, you will also need constructive criticism. We also need good film and vocational studies," said the Netflix series "Gadis Kretek" director.
In order to help create a complete ecosystem, Ifa took a step forward by establishing the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival in 2006. However, she realised that it was not enough. She then founded the Jogja Film Academy (JFA) because for her, without a consistent space, it was highly likely that the talent and experience of the first generation would simply disappear.
“When I grew up as a filmmaker in a place where there was no film ecosystem, just being a filmmaker was not enough. From JFA we work and continue to make adjustments every year, whether small or structural, to respond to what kind of competencies and what kind of graduates we want to produce," she concluded.