In Indonesia, the film sector keeps seeing significant improvement. There have been countless films produced by youths of Indonesia that have been nominated in prestigious national and international award shows. All these accomplishments could not have come true had Usmar Ismail not embarked on his career in the film industry. He was the father of the Indonesian film industry and pioneered the development of the film industry in 1950.
It has been a tradition that on the 30th of March, people within the film industry commemorate this particular day as National Film Day, as stated in the decree issued by Indonesian President No. 25 1999. The government took this decision on the basis of the event of March 30th, 1950. That day, a film was produced by an Indonesian company for the very first time.
Through his dedication, Usmar Ismail was able to bring the Indonesian film industry to new heights. His sheer persistence also inspired other talented filmmakers to follow in his footsteps. Additionally, the sector of education is also determined to live up to the legacy of Usmar Ismail. The Department of Film and Television at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus), which was established in 2016, is among those educational institutions committed to producing more well-acclaimed films both on the national level and the international one.
In a mere span of a year, students of the Film and Television Department were able to claim various accomplishments. One of those students was Salas Anggobil Rokhira, with his film entitled Like a Fish Living on Land. Through his film, Salas was nominated for an honorable mention at the 2022 Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF).
The festival was hosted in 2022 and was participated by 10.000 filmmakers from 120 different countries. With this abundant selection of films, Salas' films and the other 3.000 were chosen at the 2022 SWIFF. Salas stated that Like a Fish Living on Land told his personal experience, mainly about floods in his hometown. The film was an output for his assignment at the end of 2020.
“In 2020, the idea to depict my personal experience in the form of a movie emerged, and I also put several moral values in it,” Salas explained.
In the same year, Taufik Nabilla, the director of Anglocita garnered an award at two different events, namely, Semarang Gawe Film and Universitas Jember Film Festival (UNEFF). Through that film, he told the story of an artist struggling to keep up with modernity.
In addition to Anglocita, Taufik’s first film entitled Keceklik (2021) also managed to succeed and be nominated at two different international film festivals, including The Official Selection of Lift–Off Global Network First Time Filmmaker Session and The Official Selection of Kalimantan International Indigenous Films Festival.
“Honestly, I did not even expect Anglocita to be nominated at two different events, let alone chosen as top 30 out of all 400 films. That was because I only made this film to gain my experience as a filmmaker,” Taufik explained.
Furthermore, Moh. Atho’urrohman Arief and other students of the Visual Communication Design Department at Udinus Kediri also managed to emerge victorious at the CICA Documentary Film Contest with their film entitled Pinisi Harapan.
As the producer and team leader, Moh. Atho’urrohman Arief explained that the CICA Documentary Film Contest was initiated by the Service of Social in Kediri and the PPK team. With the theme Create, Inspire, Seek, and Hope, the contest aimed to inspire and motivate all people with disabilities in Indonesia.
During the creation of, Pinisi Harapan, the team took two weeks with several locations, including Talent House and the UMKM exhibition being the shooting locations.
“During the shooting process, we had a sleepover in the talent house, as we did not want to miss any single moment. As a result, our dedication put into this film finally came to fruition,” he added. (Humas Udinus/Alex. Foto: Humas Udinus)
