Indonesia Documentary Laboratory (IDOCLAB) came into its second year in 2024. IDOCLAB is a documentary workshop program initiated by Forum Film Dokumenter and fully supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. This program aims to improve Indonesian documentary films’ knowledge capacity and production quality. Through intensive workshops, filmmakers with their selected projects will engage in an incubation and facilitation process to develop and finalize their documentary project proposals from various aspects, from the themes, issues, and approaches.
After completing the story development phase at the initial workshop in August 2024 and conducting more research until October 2024, the directors and producers of eight selected projects reconvened for a second series of workshops focused on presenting and pitching project proposals. The eight selected projects are rooted in local narratives scattered throughout Indonesia: Yogyakarta, Central Java, DKI Jakarta, Kalimantan, Sumatra, NTB, NTT, and Papua. Located at GAIA Cosmo Hotel, Yogyakarta, the second phase of IDOCLAB will be held on November 3-8, 2024.
“Hopefully, IDOCLAB is not only reinforcing documentary material but also reinforcing the networking among filmmakers, which can help elevate our documentaries on the world stage,” said Nuzul Kristanto, S.Sos. as the Head of the Film Appreciation and Literacy of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia in his speech at the opening ceremony of the second phase of IDOCLAB on Sunday (3/11) night.
Furthermore, Kurnia Yudha as the Director of IDOCLAB 2024 program also gave a brief direction to the participants. He reiterated that, in this second phase, the workshop will focus on finalizing the preparation of project proposal presentations, deepening the material, and continuing the mentorship initiated in the first phase. Yudha also encouraged the participants to watch some documentary films as a product of the first IDOCLAB which will be premiered at the Festival Film Dokumenter 2024 under the Lanskap Program.
The second stage of the workshop was rich with insights from remarkable mentors, who are practitioners and experts in documentary development. They were Risa Permanadeli, Arfan Sabran, Fanny Chotimah, and Paul Pauwels. In the final presentation of the selected documentary projects, three professional panelists—Amelia Hapsari, Swann Dubus, and Thong Kay Wee—will join the program to review and refine these project proposals. At the end of the workshop, three proposals will be chosen to receive funding to support their production development.
IDOCLAB remains committed to being a cornerstone of the Indonesian documentary film ecosystem, fostering and developing promising Indonesian documentary filmmakers who can represent the nation’s diversity by addressing actual issues in the global community.
Covered by Hesty N. Tyas on 3 November. (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Shafira Rahmasari)
