The 22nd edition of Festival Film Dokumenter (FFD) has been conducted entirely live in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. FFD 2023 was located in Gedung ex Bioskop Permata, IFI-LIP Yogyakarta, Bioskop Sonobudoyo, and Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society. This year, FFD presented a program line-up offering readings on the anthropocene, the personal and social politics, and realities that transcend across time and geography.
Film screening and registration was started from March 23 to September 17, 2023. A total of 408 films from 55 production countries were registered. This year’s registered film production countries are more varied than the previous year. Among the registered films from the most producing countries are Indonesia (150 films), India (26 films), Spain (23 films), Iran (19 films), Poland (18 films), and Italy (14 films).
There are 150 Indonesian films from 23 provinces registered in FFD 2023. The most registered provinces include DI Yogyakarta (33 films), DKI Jakarta (23 films), West Java (21 films), Central Java (18 films), East Java (13), Aceh (9 films), Banten (6 films), and East Nusa Tenggara (5 films). Other provinces include Bali, North Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, Papua, West Papua, South Sulawesi, Bengkulu, Gorontalo, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Riau, and West Sumatra.
Among the 408 registered films, 231 films are short documentary and 177 films are feature-length documentary. Short documentaries in this regard are films produced with a duration of less than or is equivalent to 40 minutes. While feature-length documentaries are films produced with a duration of more than 40 minutes.
A total of 150 films were registered in International Feature-Length Competition and 16 films in Indonesian Feature-Length Competition. Meanwhile, in other competition categories, 96 films are registered in the Short Competition and 13 films in the Student Competition. Apart from the Feature-Length Competition category, all competition program categories are only eligible for films with Indonesian production/co-production status.
FFD also accepts film submissions for the non-competition program, which is selected based on the thematic program and/or narrative developed by each film programmer. This year, 133 films were registered in this program.
The submitted films were pre-selected by a selection committee consisting of 12 people with diverse backgrounds as film practitioners, film scholars, and academics. Selected films are categorized into competition and non-competition programs with the following distribution: International Feature-Length Competition consisted of 12 films, Indonesian Feature-Length Competition consisted of 4 films, Short Competition consisted of 7 films, Student Competition consisted of 5 films, Perspektif consisted of 5 films, Spektrum consisted of 10 films, Retrospektif consisted of 4 films, Lanskap (presented in 3 series) consisted of 11 films, Utopia/Dystopia consisted of 6 films, Docs Docs: Short! consists of 6 films, DOC Interactive consists of 4 projects, and Monographs consists of 7 video essays and 6 text essays. Read the coverage of FFD 2023 competition program awardees here.
A total of 84 films from 42 production countries were selected and screened through 62 screening slots over seven days, including screenings in the discussion program and festival opening ceremony. Within the program, there were 35 Q&A sessions and 1 artist talk event. The Q&A sessions were held after the screenings attended by filmmaker and were hosted by programmer and selection committees. Coverage of the Q&A session and artist talk can be accessed here or here.
During FFD 2023, a total of 3.725 visitors from various demographics joined the festival. The overall number of visitors was calculated based on their attendance as film audiences, DOC Talk participants, and visitors to the opening, closing, and awarding ceremonies of the festival. Out of the total, 3.475 visitors came from Indonesia, 37 from Switzerland, 30 from the United States of America, 19 from Germany, and 11 from Canada. Other visitor countries of origin included Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Austria, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Myanmar, Algeria, Brunei, Central, African Republic, India, Italy, Maldives, Philippines, Poland, Russia, dan Suriname.
A total of 1.939 visitors came from DI Yogyakarta, 431 from Central Java, 334 from DKI Jakarta, 257 from East Java, 142 from West Java, and 56 from Banten. Other provinces include Bali, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, South Sumatra, Aceh, Jambi, Riau, Central Kalimantan, Lampung, West Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara, Bangka Belitung, Bengkulu, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Papua, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, West Papua, Central Sulawesi, and North Maluku.
From the overall number, there are five age groups of FFD 2023 visitors. The distribution is as follows: 10-17 years old are 119 visitors, 18-25 years old are 2.023 visitors, 26-35 years old are 980 visitors, 36-50 years old are 409 visitors, and above 50 years old are 194 visitors. From the data, as many as 2.052 FFD 2023 visitors are male, 1.509 visitors are female, 71 are nonbinary, 19 are transgender, 11 are agender, and 63 others are preferred no to state.
Based on visitor registration data, there are six main groups of occupational backgrounds, including students, film practitioners, art and cultural practitioners, educators, media practitioners, and film distributors. The distribution of FFD 2023 visitors’ occupation is as follows: students as many as 1.483 visitors, film practitioners (including filmmakers and film exhibitors) as many as 492 visitors, art and cultural practitioners (including visual artists, writers, illustrators, designers, cultural and art festivals/events organizers, curators, and animators) as many as 440 visitors, educators as many as 168 visitors, media practitioners (including authors, journalists, columnists, and reporters) as many as 78 visitors, film distributors as many as 52 visitors, and 1.012 visitors with other occupations. Other occupations include freelancers, entrepreneurs, public servants, and researchers.
FFD 2023 organized 10 public discussions under the DOC Talk program held from December 4-8, 2023. A total of 294 participants took part in the program that covered various narratives of documentary development in Indonesia and the world. It consisted of discussions entitled as follows: Deduction and Didactics (speakers Wulan Putri, Asep Komarudin, and Fahri Salam), Dosage ≠ Duration? (speakers Yusuf Jacka Ardana and Wisnu Candra), What’s the New in New Media? (speakers Rangga Purbaya and Nathalie Khoo), Documentary Database, Education, and Its Evolving Roles (speakers Michael A. Chandra and Suluh Pamuji), Tak Kenal maka Tak !mpact (speakers Obe Wida and Mazda Radita), How does Documentary Work? (speakers Chandra Endroputro and Lia Kusumawardani), Souvenirs from Banyumas Raya (speakers Bowo Leksono and Sekar Ayu Kinanti), Nawi Ismail in Indonesian Cinema (speaker Umi Lestari), What the Most Important in Feature-Length is? (speakers Hindra Setya Rini and Tonny Trimarsanto), and The Cinema of Nishtha Jain (speaker Nishtha Jain).
Among the overall participants of DOC Talk, the distribution of age groups in attendance is as follows: 2 visitors aged 10-17 years, 170 visitors aged 18-25 years, 63 visitors aged 26-35 years, 48 visitors aged 36-50 years, and 11 visitors aged above 50 years. Based on this number, 135 of them are students, 56 visitors are film practitioners, 18 visitors are arts and culture practitioners, 30 visitors are educators, 9 visitors are media practitioners, 5 visitors are film distributors, and 41 are other occupations.
149 of the DOC Talk participants are from DI Yogyakarta, 47 from Central Java, 28 from DKI Jakarta, 12 from East Java, 10 from West Java, and 48 from other provinces including Bali, Bangka Belitung, Banten, Gorontalo, Jambi, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Lampung, North Maluku, Aceh, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, and North Sumatra.
This year, FFD is organized by 143 committees consisting of 57 personnel, 86 volunteers, 12 selection committees, and 2 collaborating artists. The volunteer selection was open to the public from September 22 to October 1, 2023. This year’s volunteer applicants reached 686 participants who took part in two stages of selection, including the paperwork screening and interview to eventually narrow down to 86 volunteers. Based on the data of the volunteers involved, 44 of them were female, 39 were male, and 1 was nonbinary.
The distribution of FFD 2023 volunteers’ educational institutions is as follows: Universitas Gadjah Mada with 21 volunteers, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta with 8 volunteers, Atma Jaya University Yogyakarta with 7 volunteers, UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta with 7 volunteers, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta with 6 volunteers, and Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta with 5 volunteers. The other 30 volunteers came from several educational institutions including STMM “MMTC” Yogyakarta, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Universitas Mercu Buana Yogyakarta, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Universitas Amikom Yogyakarta, Universitas Sanata Dharma, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Institut Seni Indonesia Surakarta, Jogja Film Academy, Politeknik Kesehatan Kemenkes Yogyakarta, Politeknik Negeri Medan, SMA N 1 Panai Hulu, STIE Pariwisata API, STIKOM AKINDO Yogyakarta, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, and Universitas Teknologi Yogyakarta.
Finally, FFD 2023 cannot be done without the support of various partners, including fellow organizers, juries, filmmakers, festival partners, and program partners. Forum Film Dokumenter would like to thank the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia and LPDP through the Dana Indonesiana program, Yogyakarta Cultural Office, Pura Pakualaman, Institut Français Indonesia, Epson Indonesia, Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society, GAIA Cosmo Hotel, Rekam Bergerak, KDM Cinema, Neighbourhood, Asian Film Archive, Faith in Speculation 1965, Forum Lenteng, Milisifilem Collective, In-Docs, Greenpeace, Project Multatuli, Purbalingga Film Festival, and Indonesiana TV.
All program details of FFD 2023 can be found here or you can download the digital catalog here. FFD 2024 will be held in November 2024 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. See you soon!
