A cultural economy of the contemporary indonesian film industry

A CULTURAL ECONOMY OF THE CONTEMPORARY INDONESIAN FILM INDUSTRY THOMAS ALEXANDER CHARLES BARKER (M.Phil., University of Birmingham, UK) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (in alphabetical order) Adek Agnes Christina Alexiel Au Yong Ananta Arifin Antariksa Arie Setyaningrum Astrid Candrasari Bintang Marisi Margaretha Budi Irawanto Charlotte Setijadi-Dunn Christian Chua Chua Beng Huat, Prof. Dave Stanford Dharini Ravi Ekky Imanjaya Emlyn Hagen Enrique Nino Panaligan Leviste Gaik Cheng Khoo Gauri Bharat Gek Li San Gula Laksmi Sapthari Guo-Juin Hong Harriet Barker Harry Dagoe Suharyadi Hew Wai Weng Hoon Chang Yau Ika Arika Indah Haryani Inez Mahony Ingrid Hoofd Intan Paramaditha Jayeel Serrano Cornelio Jeanine Tan Jennifer Lindsay Joost Coté Katinka van Heeren Kean Bon Leong Wai Teng Lilyana Budianto Lim Weida Lisabona Rachman Lou Janssen Dangzalan Melissa Esguerra Mira Lesmana Monty Tiwa Muhammad Fadli Bin Mohammed Fawzi Nadi Tofighian Ng Hui Hsien Nia Nur’aini (Sinematek) Nicholas Sim Hee Juat Nuraiani Juliastuti Olivia Pisani Pak-Juan Koe Pamela Devan Paul Antoni Bonetti Renata Sadjad Riri Riza Rusdi Mathari Sandra Manickam Sealing Cheng Seno Gumira Ajidarma Seuty Sabur Shihan Fang Sohyun Park Sophie Williams Tito Imanda Tong Chee Kiong Tracy Wright Webster Ucu Augustin Vedi R. Hadiz Veronika Kusuma Vissia Ita Yulianto Widya Narsi Yulida Pangastuti Zdravko Trivic This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Helen and Robert Barker. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II! TABLE OF CONTENTS III! SUMMARY V! LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES . VI! 1. A CULTURAL ECONOMY OF THE CONTEMPORARY INDONESIAN FILM INDUSTRY 1! 1.1 Reformasi and the Presumption of Change 1! 1.2 Framing the New Order .7! 1.3 Film as Pop Culture .12! 1.4 Central Argument: A New Cultural Economy of Indonesian Film .22! 1.5 Methods 26! 1.6 Outline of Thesis 28! 2. NATIONAL CINEMA AND THE NEW ORDER 32! 2.1 Introduction 32! 2.2 Indonesian Nationalism .34! 2.3 Film Nasional as National Cinema 36! 2.4 History of Film as Film Nasional 39! 2.5 Film Nasional as Legitimate Culture .49! 2.6 Film Nasional and the New Order .53! 2.7 Film Nasional and Creative Freedom 62! 2.8 An Industry in Decline .67! 2.9 The Continuing Evocation of Nationalism 76! 3. A NEW GENERATION OF FILMMAKERS . 79! 3.1 Introduction 79! 3.2 Transition from Garin Nugroho .80! 3.3 The Kuldesak Project as Breakthrough 84! 3.4 The Collapse of Old Production Models .93! 3.5 Making Films by Being Indie 96! 3.6 Digital Filmmakers 101! 3.7 Organized Independence and the Experiment of i-sinema 104! 3.8 New Generation of Middle Class Filmmakers .107! 3.9 Conclusion: A New Generation and its Past 115! 4. REFORMASI AND CHALLENGING THE STATE . 117! 4.1 Film and Reformasi 117! 4.2: The LSF Post-1998: Redefining Its Role 121! 4.3 The Banning of Dendam Pocong .134! 4.4 Challenging the Film Censorship Board 139! 4.5 A Different Challenge 146! 4.6 The Irony of Reformasi 148! 4.7 Disorganization Amongst the Ranks .151! 4.8 Conclusion: Reformasi .154! 5. HISTORY, VIOLENCE AND HORROR FILMS . 157! 5.1 Violence, the New Order and Film 157! 5.2 Horror as Key Genre of New Order Film 160! 5.3 New Horror post-1998 .165! iii 5.4 Teenagers as Agents of Disturbance 172! 5.5 Contemporary Horror as Allegory of Past Violence 177! 5.6 Using Horror to Elucidate Ethnic Violence .182! 5.6.1 Lentera Merah (2006) and the History of 1965 185! 5.6.2 Kuntilanak and the Indonesian Elite .188! 5.7 Breaking with History 191! 6. POP ISLAM 194! 6.1 Introduction: Film and Islam .194! 6.2 The Spectacle of Ayat-Ayat Cinta 195! 6.3 History of Islam and Film 206! 6.4 Two Post-1998 Islamic Films 214! 6.5 Ketika Cinta Bertasbih and Tarbiyah 217! 6.6 Expanding Islam: Hanung Bramantyo and Laskar Pelangi 224! 6.7 Conclusion: Islam and Beyond 230! 7. FROM INDIE TO BIG CAPITAL: THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION OF THE FILM INDUSTRY . 232! 7.1 Rebuilding an Industry .232! 7.2 Seeking Private Capital 235! 7.3 The Old Production Companies .243! 7.4 Outsourcing Production .249! 7.5 Oligopoly of the Old Producers .256! 7.6 The Old Producers Since 1998 261! 7.7 The Arrival of Blitz Megaplex .269! 7.8 Conclusion .275! 8. CONCLUSION: THE PAST IN THE PRESENT 277! 8.1 Film and its Cultural Economy 277! 8.2 Historicizing Pop Culture 280! 8.3 From State to Market .282! BIBLIOGRAPHY . 286! Newspaper and Online Sources .313! APPENDIX . 316! Biographies of Prominent Post-1998 Filmmakers .316! Details of Indonesian Films 1998-2010 .323! List of Interviews Conducted .351! iv SUMMARY Following the end of the New Order (1967-1998) and the subsequent period of reformasi, Indonesian feature films revitalized as a mode of cultural expression and as a culture industry. By 2008, filmmaking was dominated by a new generation of filmmakers and their films were prevalent in Indonesia’s cinemas. Whereas pre-1998 filmmaking was subject to state control and operated through a cultural economy of national cinema, after 1998 film integrated with prevailing modes of pop culture. As the first major study of the Indonesian film industry since 1998, this thesis asks: How did filmmaking and the film industry revitalize? What are the consequences of film becoming pop culture? By deploying a cultural economy approach, this thesis analyses the sociology of film production in combination with a cultural analysis of a selection of films, to answer the above questions. In doing so, it shows that current film production remains structured by the past and is subject to the logic of pop culture. v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1. Audience Data for Indonesian Films 2000-2007 .21! Figure 1. Annual Film Production, 1926-2010 3! Figure 2. Location of Film Companies in Jakarta 112! Figure 3. Schematic of New Order Horror Films 165! Figure 4. The Tripartite in Contemporary Horror Films 176! Figure 5. Promotional Poster for ‘Oh Allah! I Have Come’ 212! Figure 6. Production Ratio, Independent and Large Production Companies 234! Figure 7. Sudwikatmono’s Network in the New Order Film Industry 259! vi 1. A CULTURAL ECONOMY OF THE CONTEMPORARY INDONESIAN FILM INDUSTRY Men make their own history, but they not make it as they please; they not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. - Karl Marx (1852) 1.1 Reformasi and the Presumption of Change From the outside, feature film in Indonesia seems to have been one of the success stories of reformasi, the period of reform and democratization that followed the end of the New Order. In the decade between President Soeharto’s resignation in May 1998 and today (2010) the film industry has seen exponential growth and expansion. From a position in the late 1990s of near collapse, when less than a dozen films were produced, to a situation today where more films are released than the cinemas can handle (about one hundred titles a year, or two a week), the industry has recovered and grown in a spectacular way. Moreover, local films now regularly attract audiences in excess of 500,000,1 a figure rarely recorded even in the industry’s heyday of the 1970s and 1980s. Box office records have also been progressively broken, with audience figures previously thought impossible: Petualangan Sherina (1999, ‘Sherina’s Adventure’), 1.4 million; Ada For audience figures, see the website ‘Film Indonesia’ http://filmindonesia.or.id/, accessed 29 June 2011. Apa Dengan Cinta? (2002, ‘What’s Up With Love?’), 2.2 million; Eiffel… I’m in Love (2003), million; Ayat-Ayat Cinta (2008, ‘Verses of Love’), 3.8 million; Laskar Pelangi (2008, ‘Rainbow Troops’), 4.6 million. Ukus Kuswara, the current Director of Film, claimed that the old motto of the local film industry - to be ‘master in its own house’ (tuan di rumah sendiri) - has been fulfilled.2 Arguably reformasi made this possible. Old regulatory and institutional structures of the New Order were swept away or rendered impotent, along with the last vestiges of its film industry, allowing new production and import companies to mushroom, and new directors and scriptwriters to make films. New creative freedoms were quickly embraced by young filmmakers. Kuldesak (1998, ‘Cul-de-sac’) was released by debutant and relatively unknown film directors, inaugurating the emergence of a ‘new generation’ of filmmakers whose style and approach were different to anything before them. The Jakarta International Film Festival (Jiffest) began in 1999, alongside a myriad of smaller festivals catering to diverse communities, bringing international art films to cinemas for the first time. New filmmakers entered the industry, beginning an explosion of new films offering new variety and forms of stories to audiences. ‘10 Tahun Kebangkitan Film Nasional’, Presentation given at JIFFEST, Taman Ismail Marzuki, December 2008. Figure 1. Annual Film Production, 1926-20103 Data compiled from a variety of sources including Kristanto (2007) and Ardan (2004: 301-302). The revitalization of the film industry from its nadir in the late 1990s to the situation today was not a linear process, and can be broken into three substantial phases. From 1998 to the 2002 release of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? there was substantial flux. Production was relatively ad hoc, with the last remnants of the New Order industry and young filmmakers experimenting in the freedom of reformasi. This was a period of political euphoria following the end of the New Order, coupled with financial difficulty due to the Asian Financial Crisis. From 2002 to 2006 was the period of re-entry for the old producers especially following the success of Eiffel . I’m in Love (2003) and with it a period of adjustment for young creative filmmakers as they looked to establish themselves as dedicated filmmakers. From 2006 onwards, production was increasingly routinized, and a certain amount of stability and consistency had been introduced into film production. Concomitantly there was an increase in audiences and the expansion of the cinema business with the entry of new operator Blitz Megaplex in 2008. By 2008 however, the optimism and euphoria that had accompanied reformasi had largely evaporated, to be replaced by a general malaise.4 A conservative backlash against the ‘excessive’ freedoms of post-reformasi was in motion, marked by the enactment of an anti-pornography law in 2008 and emboldened conservative critics. The belief that reformasi would transform the conditions of film production proved to be premature or, at worst, wrong, as old interests, old producers and modes of production came to dominate once again. Young filmmakers have grown increasingly disillusioned with the return to commercialism, an emphasis on the bottom line and the perceived need to produce See for example ‘Nasib Perfilman Nasional Dikhawatirkan Kembali ke Zaman Orba Jumat’, Kompas, 24 July 2009. 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 List of Interviews Conducted Abduh Azis (Producer and current Head of the Jakarta Arts Council), August 2008. Adiyanto Sumarjono (Producer, Investasi Film Indonesia), 16 July 2008. Allan Lunardi (Director and Producer, Credo Pictures), 19 July 2008. Anonymous (Former employee of production company), 18 July 2008. Awi Suryadi (Director, 24ant), June 2008. Bakri MM (Drs. former Head of the Film Department, 1985-2008), 21 November 2008. Chand Parwez Servia (Producer, Starvision), 17 July 2008. Damiana Widowati (Dotty) (Producer, Salto Films), June 2008. Dimas Djayadiningrat (Director), 12 November 2008. Elvin Kustaman (Producer, Credo Pictures), 19 July 2008. Emil G. Hampp (Director), 10 July 2008. Enison Sinaro (Director and IKJ Lecturer), 15 August 2008. Eric Sasono (Film Critic and founding editor of Rumah Film), 25 September 2008. Eros Djarot (Director), 22 October 2008. Erwin Arnada (Producer, Rexinema), 16 June 2008. Hanung Bramantyo (Director, Dapur Films), 30 May 2008. Harry “Dagoe” Suharyadi (Director, Writer, Producer), 24 November 2008. Hatoek Subroto (Producer and Elang Perkasa boss), 10 December 2008. Hendrick Gozali (Producer, Garuda Films), 19 June 2008. Hilman Hariwijaya (Producer and Writer, Lupus Entertainment), June 2008. Jujur Prananto (Scriptwriter), December 2008. Koko Sunarso (Navirindo), 18 July 2008. Lasja F. Susatyo (Director), 22 November 2008. Mira Lesmana (Producer Miles Films), 30 January 2009. Monty Tiwa (Director and Writer, Moveista), 26 September 2008. Nan T. Achnas (Director and IKJ Lecturer), 13 September 2008. Ody Harahap (Director), 20 October 2008. Raam Punjabi (Producer, Multivision Plus), 17 August 2008. 351 Rako Prijanto (Director), 11 August 2008. Rayya Makarim (Scriptwriter), August 2008. Richard Oh (Writer and Director), 11 August 2008. Riri Riza (Director), 30 September 2008. Rizal Mantovani (Director), November 2008. Ronny P. Tjandra (Jive Entertainment, home video arm of Blitz), August 2008. Rudi Soedjarwo (Director, Reload), 19 July 2008. Rudy S. Sanyoto (InterStudio owner), 16 September 2008. Salman Aristo (Scriptwriter and Producer), December 2008. Seno Gumira Ajidarma (Writer and Lecturer at IKJ), 19 November 2008. Shanker RS (Producer, Indika Entertainment), 22 September 2008. Sunil Samtani (Producer Rapi Films), 19 October 2009. Thomas Nawilis (Actor and Director), 30 May 2008. Titie Said (Head of the Indonesian Censor Board), 28 May 2008. Ukus Kuswara (Director of Film, Department of Tourism and Culture), 31 October 2008. Ve Handojo (Scriptwriter, Multivision Plus), 20 November 2008. Viva Westi (Scriptwriter and Director), June 2008. Wendy Soeweno (former Marketing Director Blitz Megaplex, CEO Jive Entertainment), 17 July 2008. Yoen K (Producer, Maxima Pictures), 18 July 2008. 352 [...]... in Jakarta in November 2008 18 Personal interview, 15 August 2008 “Cuma pada saat itu kan memang beda, dulu kan kebanyakannya penonton dewasa Cuma memang dulu kan filmnya memang film dewasa semua, tahun 80an gitu Kan kita mulai lagi di tahun 2000 Tahun 2000 kan udah mulai banyak film- film yang remaja atau yang ‘coming of age’ gitu.” 18 with complications of love and negotiating between love, sexuality... orang-orang kita sudah mulai menghargai produk dalam negri dan pembuat filem juga sudah mulai memberikan sesuai harapan mereka, yaitu hiburan.” Translated by the author All subsequent translations are the author’s unless otherwise indicated 12 As Raam Punjabi notes above, one of the most fundamental developments for local film of the past decade is that local films are now part of pop culture Local films are... history of film in Indonesia and argues that the dominant narrative of that history is that of film nasional Film nasional describes film in the normative terms of national cinema by interpreting film through the precepts of a national culture and orientated to the goal of being ‘master in their own house’ (tuan di rumah sendiri) Film nasional, as I reveal, has since the 30 Most of these films I was able... that is the cultural economy of film My use of cultural economy is in part a heuristic device made necessary by the subject matter at hand I needed to simultaneously account for the cultural 24 and economic dimensions of the Indonesian film revival and the way the two dimensions form a complex of mutual interaction The cultural economy literature seeks to conceptualize the contemporary phase of. .. made films in favour of Hollywood films because the latter spoke to their aspirations more than staid British films could (Miles and Smith, 1987) Similarly in Indonesia during 10 Seno Gumira Ajidarma quoted in ‘Logika Film Hantu’, Kompas, 28 March 2010 Original reads: “Kalau menurut pandangan ‘arogan’, film- film saat ini sering dianggap bermutu rendah dan indikasi kebodohan Tetapi, kita harus melihat,... words and insights are supported by research with publicly available documents such as newspaper and magazine articles, books and various other forms of data, especially those held in the Sinematek film library in Jakarta Interview data was complemented by my dedicated viewing of Indonesian films both on video and in the cinema I made a point to obtain and watch as many of the post-1998 feature films as... suppressed under the New Order, there has been an emphasis on the ethnic Chinese and their reappearance in recent films made by socially aware, middle class filmmakers (Sen, 2006; Heryanto, 2008) Films such as Nia Dinata’s Ca Bau Kan (2003, The Courtesan’) and Riri Riza’s Gie (2005) are used to explore the reappearance of the Chinese Both Sen and Heryanto note that the era of reformasi has allowed these previously... historical myopia has been prevalent, it traces the social background behind the phenomenal success of Ayat-Ayat Cinta (2008), an Islamic themed romance set in Cairo, Egypt I argue that Islamic themed films are constitutive of debates over Islam’s place in contemporary Indonesia, and what it means to be Muslim In this way, contemporary film production is a part of a broader historical processes and is actively... established paradigms in studies of Indonesian film, often reproduced in other studies of Southeast Asian film (Hanan, 1996; Ciecko, 2006b) For much of the twentieth century, film has been regarded within the framework of ‘national cinema’ (Hayward, 2005) This has served as a convenient frame of analysis, especially as film seemed to correspond to both national economics and a ‘national culture’ at the. .. Kurnia (2008) has written the most thorough study of the contemporary film industry Considering Indonesian film from within a world-systems framework, she argues that the rise and fall of Indonesian film cannot be considered separate to the global film industry, especially given the global supremacy of Hollywood and its cultural hegemony By taking a comparative approach, her study asks why the Indonesian . Lilyana Budianto Lim Weida Lisabona Rachman Lou Janssen Dangzalan Melissa Esguerra Mira Lesmana Monty Tiwa Muhammad Fadli Bin Mohammed Fawzi Nadi Tofighian Ng Hui Hsien Nia Nur’aini. 34! 2.3 Film Nasional as National Cinema 36! 2.4 History of Film as Film Nasional 39! 2.5 Film Nasional as Legitimate Culture 49! 2.6 Film Nasional and the New Order 53! 2.7 Film Nasional and Creative. orang-orang kita sudah mulai menghargai produk dalam negri dan pembuat filem juga sudah mulai memberikan sesuai harapan mereka, yaitu hiburan.” Translated by the author. All subsequent translations