Festival Film Dokumenter 2010

This year’s program is wrapped in a big issue regarding hypocrisy. Negative excesses of humans as social creatures. This year’s program we started with the realization that documentary film is a very powerful medium for bringing the audience’s mind to another perspective presented by the filmmaker. That in a documentary the filmmaker has the freedom to speak the truth without having to consider A or B’s version of the truth.

This year’s festival will be opened by Prison and Paradise. A documentary film lasting one and a half hours is also the first Indonesian documentary film that we chose to start the tradition of opening the festival with an Indonesian film. Where else can Indonesian films be guests at their own film festival? On the one hand, Daniel Rudi Haryanto has tried his best, as other documentary filmmakers do, to present a clear idea about something. On the other hand, a film is still a film. A medium that is susceptible to technicalities and at the same time has a very strong resonance when all aspects are combined into one in the viewing room. With that in mind, we chose Prison and Paradise to get us used to watching and talking afterwards. Because documentaries are often not films that make us smile after the cinema lights come on.

In the Perspective program you can watch many things about Hypocracy in overseas countries. We present two films from director Nelofer Pazira, Return to Kandahar and Audition, which tells the story of Afghanistan, then Hair India about wigs and the mystification of beauty. Orgasm Inc. will open your eyes regarding the modification of sexual pleasure, that nowadays everything can be commercialized, even about very personal things. Lastly, In Complete World by Shelly Silver gives you a portrait of human interaction with humans, which can be started by just asking or saying hello.

My Asian Heart is the first film we present on the Spektrum program. This film questions journalistic integrity as well as the determination to continue recording moments. David Bradbury, the director of this film, took the time to come to Jogja to give a masterclass entitled “Keep the Camera Rolling, No Matter What!”. The short film compilation Bridging the Gap from Scotland offers a program like an omnibus of documentaries, this year with the theme Future. In the SEADoc program we offer another perspective looking at our neighboring countries which often make our ears and eyes red with anger. Malaysia, we will present it from the eyes of Malaysian filmmakers themselves. Do we still consider ourselves to be one competing group or have we always been able to only allow ourselves to see from one point of view? We invite you to draw your own conclusions after devouring this program.

Finally, we hope that the Festival Film Dokumenter can open the doors of dialogue and conversation for you, friends, colleagues and relatives to map out the complexities together. Don’t cut your face because you have a bad face. Have fun looking in the mirror.

*automatically translated via Google Translate with minor edits.

It’s not an easy matter to prepare for this year’s Festival Film Dokumenter (FFD). A few weeks before the festival, Mount Merapi, a part of the cosmology of Yogyakarta society, spewed hot clouds that devastated several villages and claimed lives. In an atmosphere that is still tumultuous due to disasters, this festival continues – not to make fun of disasters – but to humanize humans who are trying to survive and improve the situation.

Yes, this is the FFD 2010, a festival that has been around since 2002 and this is the ninth time this documentary celebration has been held. This festival is an arena for appreciation, a place to exchange ideas, and an open place to celebrate documentary diversity. FFD 2010 presents a program of Competition, Perspective, Spectrum, SchoolDoc, discussions and workshops.

This year’s FFD Indonesian Documentary Film Competition was attended by 80 filmmakers from all over Indonesia. The FFD competition is divided into three categories, student documentaries, short documentaries and long documentaries. It’s not just a competition for wins and losses, but more than that, this competition creates opportunities for the development of Indonesian documentary films from year to year. All films participating in the competition will be documented which can then be used to trace social and cultural changes as well as the development of Indonesian documentary film

Apart from competitions, FFD 2010 presents several other programs that can support the documentary film atmosphere in Indonesia. Discussions and Masterclasses at Taman Budaya Yogyakarta will be a space for the exchange of ideas and experiences from various groups, which will stimulate the growth of thought and richness of discourse.

Humanity is still our big idea in this festival. Violence, conflict of beliefs, corruption, cultural clashes and disasters are the common threads of Indonesia’s problems, this nation is becoming confused by the influx of information. Reading this phenomenon, the FFD 2010 offers an alternative spectacle, to view Indonesia from another perspective. “Hipocracy” becomes our perspective in responding to mediated social phenomena, not only inviting us to look more critically, but also becoming a reference for reflection on life. To quote John Grierson’s sentence, “look at cinema as a pulpit”. The role of documentaries is not only to explain, but also to inspire, like a stage for dialogue that is not only one way, but also opens up gaps for analysis and provides a place for disagreement. Apart from that, there is the Spektrum program which is a forum for a diversity of documentary film themes and genres. Schooldoc, is one of this year’s FFD programs which focuses on students getting closer to documentary films.

In the end, amidst still fragile conditions, the FFD 2010 was held! Thank you to all those who support this festival, enjoy this year’s documentary menu.

*automatically translated via Google Translate with minor edits.