“We are sorry the seats are full,” was the opening line of the conversation that took place in front of Bioskop Sonobudoyo in the last screening slot of the documentary films (5/12/2023). Since 15 minutes before the screening, the seats had been full. Some audience members were even willing to come early to watch the screening of 4 documentary films in the Short Competition program compilation. The four films screened were Sailum: Song of the Rustling Leaves (Felix K. Nesi, Moses Parlindungan Ompusunggu; 2023), Kanaka (Regina Surbakti, 2023), Mother of the Sea (Clarissa Ruth Natan, 2023), and The Whistle Starts Whispering (Yusuf Jacka Ardana, 2023).
The various discourses and narratives brought by each film made the screening of this compilation highly anticipated. The story of Felix K. Nesi’s grandfather who was given and taken away by the palm tree becomes a bridge to bring intimate and personal narratives in Sailum: Song of the Rustling Leaves (2023). Together with Moses, Felix presents a rite of honoring the agrarian culture centered on palm wine and its relation to Catholic religiosity in a predominantly Moslem country. In Kanaka (2023), as director, Regina tells the story of urban life from the perspective of Mikha, a nail artist in Yogyakarta. Working in her studio keeps Mikha a little distant from her family. As a mother, she wants to take care of her daughter but her workplace makes it impossible for her to do so. Her offer to her husband to share domestic work–taking care of the children–is not well taken, making this film very bold in discussing women’s issues.
Women’s issues are also a part of the film Mother of the Sea (2023). Despite getting a cynical view of her gender position that should not be at sea, Siti Darwati continues to survive risking her life in the middle of the ocean. She and her group of fishermen in Demak continue to fight for government attention. The last film, The Whistle Starts Whispering (2023), discusses state violence on a soccer field.
Representatives from each of the films were in attendance. They were Moses Parlindungan Ompusunggu (Director of Sailum: Song of the Rustling Leaves), Regina Surbakti (Director of Kanaka), Kinanthi Larasati (Producer of Mother of the Sea), and Yusuf Jacka Ardana (Director of The Whistle Starts Whispering). After the screening, hosted by Rugun Sirait as the competition program coordinator, the audience was invited to join a Q&A session with the filmmakers.
Jacka explained why he chose to use the visual archive as a medium to tell the story behind the Kanjuruhan incident. His love for soccer–which is greater than his love for film–made him feel the atmosphere of a soccer match while filming these visual archives. It was not the riots and repression carried out by the state forces when trying to unravel the masses. Jacka chose to capture the corners of the Kanjuruhan Stadium as an archive that could later serve as a reminder when the memory was gradually being erased by the local authorities. He chose not to directly observe and interview the victims to avoid inflicting more wounds on them. To narrate the voices of the victims of the Kanjuruhan incident, Jacka displays partiality and liminally prefers to archive the voices written on the walls of the stadium.
The next question was asked to the filmmaker of Kanaka (2023), Regina, about the process of meeting and communicating with the protagonists of the film to get a very personal story. Regina explained that she was originally a customer of Mikha’s studio before discovering the peculiarity of the studio. The personal stories that are intertwined in the space become a discourse that is translated in the documentary Kanaka (2023) in an intimate and personal way.
Moving away from the liminal and personal, Moses recounts his sharing of duties with Felix as a fellow director of Sailum: Song of the Rustling Leaves (2023). The split was done to avoid narrative bias and maintain a space for creative discussion. In working on this film, Moses and Felix agreed to take care of 2 different mediums. Felix focused on taking care of the narrative and the story, while Moses worked more on the technical matters of film composition to bring this film more personally. The two also gave each other feedback during the editing process after 11 days of filming.
Unlike the previous 3 films, the director was present in the Q&A session. Presented by Kinanthi Larasati, Kinan explained the challenges the production team encountered in making Mother of the Sea (2023). She recounted the research process conducted online with the help of NGOs to find suitable subjects for the film. It was this help that finally connected the subject’s ideas and focus issues.
The creative process in making documentary films has its own struggles and difficulties. There are stories-both personal and liminal-that are interwoven with each other to convey the intended narrative. There are also technical challenges that filmmakers often have to face. It will be interesting to see the creative process of the other films featured in Festival Film Dokumenter 2023, which will be held until December 9, 2023.
Covered by Ahmad Radhitya Alam on 5 December 2023.
