After being held for seven consecutive days, FFD 2023 has come to its final event. A total of 84 films from 42 production countries were screened in various venues including Gedung ex Bioskop Permata, Bioskop Sonobudoyo, IFI-LIP Yogyakarta, and Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society. In addition, along with FFD 2023, the Indonesian Documentary Lab (IDOCLAB) 2023 has also been completed at GAIA Cosmo Hotel.
This year, FFD is celebrating its 22nd year and has 10 programs, including Perspektif, Spektrum, Retrospektif, Lanskap (Ordinary/Extraordinary, Grotesque Cinema, Milisifilem: Proyek Minke), Utopia/Dystopia, Docs Docs: Short!, DOC Talk, DOC Interactive, Monographs, and Competition Program (International Feature-Length, Indonesia Feature-Length, Short, and Student Competition). The closing ceremony of FFD 2023 was held at Gedung ex Bioskop Permata and attended by filmmakers, juries, and representatives of partners involved in organizing the festival. The event was opened by the host who read the description of the series of activities of FFD 2023. This was followed by a speech delivered by the Director of Forum Film Dokumenter, Kurnia Yudha F.
After going through several stages, the Indonesia Documentary Lab (IDOCLAB) jury and mentors finally decided on the selected projects that qualified for production support. Yudha explained some of the factors selected to get the support. First, it has the potential to develop a way of storytelling in a film that is able to portray Indonesia from an Indonesian perspective. Second, it shows the courage to take risks and tell stories that most likely require collaboration with various parties. Third, it has the potential to spread this diversity of storytelling styles into the documentary film platform that will be developed by IDOCLAB and the Ministry of Education and Culture. Fourth, it has the potential for sustainability in the production team, so that there can be a knowledge distribution that will continue to grow along with the evolution of contemporary Indonesian society. The four projects that received IDOCLAB production support are
Butterfly on a River (Sa’diang Harus Pulang)
Director: Ulfa Evitasari | Producer: Rahmawati Addas
The Other Daughter
Director: Fala Pratika | Producer: Fadhilla Ristianty
A Way of Life (Waya Masapi)
Director: Mohammad Ifdhal | Producer: Liauw Suryani
Sie…
Director: Yosef Levi | Producer: Alfonsia Maria Nogo Puka
After IDOCLAB 2023 awarding ceremony, the closing ceremony of FFD 2023 continued with the competition program awarding. This event was hosted by Gerry Junus and Rugun Sirait as the coordinator of FFD 2023 competition program. “This year we are very happy to have received 275 films from all over Indonesia and various parts of the world,” Gerry said. The submission period from May to September gave us 5 months to collect the various films. Gerry also reported that there were many new films that even made us question the boundaries between fiction and documentary. “The competition program consistently seeks to present documentaries that reflect and touch social reality through innovative storytelling methods,” he added.
Then, hosted by Gerry and Rugun, each of the competition program jury members read out the jury statement. Each decision was made through an intensive meeting of the jury by considering various aspects. The awardees of competition program FFD 2023 are:
Best Student Documentary
Ebeg Lovers (Ebeg Sejoli)
Kartika Tri Wardani (Jawa Tengah | 2023)
Best Short Documentary
Kanaka
Regina Surbakti (DI Yogyakarta | 2023)
Best Indonesia Feature-Length Documentary
The Exiles (Eksil)
Lola Amaria (DKI Jakarta | 2022)
Best International Feature-Length Documentary
Song of Souls (လိပ်ပြာလင်္ကာ)
Sai Naw Kham (Myanmar | 2023)
FFD 2023 is presented by Forum Film Dokumenter with the support of Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia and LPDP through Dinas Kebudayaan DIY. FFD 2023 also collaborated with festival partners Pura Pakualaman, Institut Français Indonesia, Epson Indonesia, Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society, GAIA Cosmo Hotel, Rekam Bergerak, KDM Cinema, Jagoan Liburan, and Neighbourhood. In implementing its various programs, FFD 2023 collaborates with program partners Asian Film Archive, Faith in Speculation 1965, Forum Lenteng, Milisifilem Collective, indocs, Greenpeace, Project Multatuli, Purbalingga Film Festival, KDM Cinema, and Indonesiana TV.
In the final moments of FFD 2023, Kurnia Yudha F. expressed his gratitude to all parties who worked hard to make this year’s festival possible. To give appreciation to the volunteers and all parties involved, in this session, a short documentary about behind the scenes of FFD 2023 was screened. At the end, all volunteers involved were invited to come on stage as a form of appreciation. “Thank you to all FFD 2023 volunteers for their hard work and hopefully we can meet again next year,” said Yudha. “See you in November 2024,” he concluded.
Covered by Ahmad Radhitya Alam on December 9, 2023.
