INNER VIEW WINALDO SWASTIA can do that role justice. There are, of course, those who do not care about that. The fame of the actor plays an important role, whether we like it or not. What’s the Indonesian system like relative to Hollywood? The Hollywood system was established in 1930s, so it’s been around for over 80 years or so. In Indonesia we started a lot later. That cannot be ignored. The Raid made a big impact overseas. What about the people behind the camera? Is there a strong Indonesian presence in Indonesian films? The majority of the crew are Indonesian. Perhaps the director of photography and maybe the director Gareth Evans himself, who is Welsh, aren’t Indonesian. Maybe there’s someone else in the special or visual effects team, if you want to look at them. Having said that, even Gareth himself has been here a while. Before his first feature film Merantau, he’s been here since the 1990s. Though I don’t include myself in this, some people thought that The Raid is not an Indonesian film, because of the director. I think you cannot say that. It’s an Indonesian film.
IMAGE: JOÃO TRINDADE / FLICKR
What kind of suggestions would you give to those who are interested to get started in making films? I always say that to students, if you want to make a movie, just shoot it. You can shoot it with your phone. It’s for practice, right? You write a story, and you ask others about it. How is my story? Is it good enough? Maybe you can develop the script for a week or so, and then shoot it with your friends. You can make one or two small films this way, and then you can upload it to YouTube and garner some form of constructive criticism. It’s the first step for making a film. After that, you can read more about this. Just like a baby, you have to learn to sit. You have to learn to crawl, walk and run. Don’t worry, just shoot it.
The current president has a good vision for Indonesian cinema, so we’ll see what happens
38 | CQ MAGAZINE | #6
just that the general Indonesian audience don’t watch these films. That’s why! People want to watch the stars. Like I said, you might not like Pevita, but at least you know of her and her films. If, however, there is a film with an unknown cast, you might not even be interested to find out more. Let’s take Jenderal Soedirman, maybe. There’s a lot of producers willing to give others a chance. Not all of these type of films use the most famous actors. They don’t always try to focus on the financial factors. Rather, the hope is that the story is good enough. Not everyone is that driven by money. In some cases, they are fixated on an actor precisely because they believe no one else
Finally, will you be making a jump into the director’s chair for your feature film debut anytime soon? As an assistant director, there are some companies that have asked me to direct my first film. I rejected them. I don’t like the stories. The first film has to be something I like. It’s a big stamp on your forehead. It’s a signature, and that’s what people will associate you with. It has to be a story I give birth to. Winaldo was the 1st assistant director for Aach… Aku Jatuh Cinta (dir. Garin Nugroho) and Jenderal Soedirman (dir. Viva Westi). He recently co-wrote and codirected Setan Jawa, an upcoming feature film with Garin Nugroho.