The new and innovative technology seems to be a new medium of expression for anyone to express the fluorescent moments in human lives. However, how far is the novelty offered? What is the impact of expression in new media on the wider community? In response to these concerns, Festival Film Dokumenter 2023 held a public discussion within the framework of DOC Talk entitled “What’s New in the New Media?”. This discussion was held on December 5, 2023 at 15.30 WIB at Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society. Leading the discussion were Natalie Khoo and Rangga Purbaya as speakers, and Sazkia Noor Anggraini as moderator.
DOC Talk and Monographs are a series of programs under the umbrella of Festival Film Dokumenter 2023. “Newness” is perhaps the main highlight in both. Be it the use of media to convey ideas and impressions, to the day-to-day novelty in the storylines presented by the directors and writers. This afternoon’s conversation discusses how the ever-changing landscape and lives offer fresh methods of delivery.
So, how do the works presented contribute to the study of new media? Apparently, it was Purbaya’s attempt to capture the 1965 story with Sirin Farid Stevy in Faith in Speculations (2021) in the DOC Interactive program to hold a space for discourse among the common audience. Meanwhile, Khoo explained that these contributions were born out of the appeal of video essays. “The video essays are expected to appeal to new media users, such as social media users,” Khoo says, “The Monographs program is a cartographic ‘exercise’ in looking at landscapes, events and personal intimate experiences spread across Asia.”
Anggraini responds that there are intersections between DOC Interactive and Monographs, in that both speak of human experience and the things that transcend it–but in a way that is both, also, very intimate and human. “In this program, we don’t act like curators, but editors. Especially in Faith in Speculations, I help to contextualize the narrative to be able to enter the frame of the work itself-about narratives that have not been heard, by ordinary people, regarding the events of 1965.” Purbaya explained. As for the Monographs program, Khoo shared that there is a wide opportunity for those who are not filmmakers to be creative and open up the world in new media studies. The new twist that Khoo brings up in this program is how video essays, interestingly, can fulfill various intentions: film, entertainment media, to specific studies and discussions on a topic.
One of the questions posed by the questioner was, “How do you deal with the resistance given by stakeholders, such as the government, for example, in delivering quite ‘challenging’ messages in the new media?” to Purbaya responded: To not be hindered in the production process, it is important to know the law and what is prohibited to convey. Khoo agreed that there are situations that put filmmakers in a vulnerable state when it comes to conveying ideas on screen.
Anggraini returned to the main question: What is new in “new” media? Khoo elaborates, “The newness of documentary in the world of new media is the explicit elaboration of ideas, done implicitly. In addition, documentaries, which are part of new media, contain efforts to provide novelty from the technical presentation of existing shows.” Meanwhile, Purbaya focuses on the audience’s experience of receiving a new presentation with new techniques, which invites them to shape history from a perspective outside the mainstream.
The flow of novelty in a work is never free from challenges. Depicting the reality of life with techniques that involve technology is the answer to what is documentary in the world of new media? Other discussions in DOC Talk are still being held for free and conducted offline. Find more information on Festival Film Dokumenter 2023’s website.
Covered by Tuffahati Athallah on 5 December 2023.
