Watching Free and Great Movie in Almost Everyday

It get bore sometime to watch movies in the common bioscopes. Mostly because of the standard plots. And also with same players. To face this condition, the emergence of an alternative bioscope appear to be important for showing a different kind of watching space. In the midst of the small amount of alternative watching space, Kineforum come forward to bring fresh and new nuance. In here, viewers gives films from inside and outside the country which is different with mainstream movies, in almost everyday. There is no admission fee too. To find out more about the concept propose by Kineforum, here is Journal Footage interview with Lisabona Rahman, Programming of Kineforum.

Is Kineforum under the cineplex 21 or the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ)?
All staffs and volunteers of Kineforum paid by the DKJ. So with the program. The place was living by the cineplex 21 as a corporate social responsibilities. The main course of it is to give space for film education.

How is the development of bioscopes like Kineforum in Indonesia?
Kineforum is not the only alternative watching space for important movies. There is Kinoki in Yogya, and Kineruku in Bandung. What different from Kineforum is, in here people can watch movies in almost everyday. The films also programmed and because this is cineplex, the place is comfortable too.

Do you find it’s necessary to have movie places like this?
For me these kind of places are important. So, government or education institution should facilitate these kind of places though they can’t have full support. At least one place in every city. We know that many cities in Indonesia don;t have any bioscope at all. If we make comparison to Korea, the government is deliberately built bioscopes and giving incentive to those who works in the non-mainstream films. True that the audience can’t be call as potential viewers of mainstream films, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t have rights to watch the movie, no? For me, this kind of initiative should be copied, duplicated as much as possible, so if anyone ask why we were never give any alternative in the midst of mainstream films, we shouldn’t have much to blame.

Is there any representative place like Kineforum in other region?
As far as I know there is none. For example Kinoki, was base on private initiative, so with Kineruku. There was a community named cinema lovers community in Purbalingga (central Java) that allow to use the hall in the Regent workplace. But after a while, they’re forbade to use it anymore by the reason that the Regent workplace is not a place to do such activities. Thus, they started to make traveling film screenings at schools and communities. They are also held film festival, but the place is traveling.

What will be of Kineforum in the future?
Actually I don’t know about the future of Kineforum in a sense of institution. If there’s a restructurization in the DKJ, will they be continue the concept or not? My imagination, as an institution, it will be better if Kineforum become independent. Meanings, that the DKJ may subsidy every year, but not like now, where Kineforum is an underbow of DKJ. If it stays like this, the existence of Kineforum is depend on the structure of DKJ. So far there is consistency, but in the future who knows.

So the government make a less effort to support the emergence of independent bioscope?
Yes, it is. The original Kineforum initiative was came from the DKJ board member not the government. I think the government still sees film as entertainment medium or tool for political campaign.

What is the basic idea of Kineforum?
Basically Kineforum was form as space for education. The assumption was, if audience understand the history of great movies, then there will be possibility for another measure in choosing films. In Indonesia there are no spaces like this, if there is, only initiative space by individual or community. So, if films outside the mainstream marketed in Indonesia are hard to watch, then the audiences may watches them at Kineforum.

When did Kineforum started?
October 2006. Previously there is art cinema which was the initiative of film committee of the DKJ in the period a year before (2005). At that time they made screenings for about two weks long in a months at the same place.

What is the different between Kineforum and art cinema?
To be frank I never knew the concept. I’ve tried to searched all documents like basic conceptual of art cinema but never got lucky. All that I remembered that I was invited to the launched. One of the idea bringer, Gatot, said: “In Indonesia, there is no bioscope that projected art films”. So, I think that the concept of art cinema is more likely an exhibition space, screened the film which consider by the curator as ‘art film’. While Kineforum never limit itself to merely art films. We don’t mind to projects commercial films as long as there is connection with the theme that we propose.

You’ve said it yourself that you are not the program person, what is the challenge?
Films availability. As programmed bioscope, Kineforum has its very basic weakness which is unable to buy films. So films that we can get are films that can be projected without any screening fee or the producers willing to project their films with profit sharing system. You know, films like that is hard to get. Even if we can get them, we have limited source of funding to provide sending fees for films from abroad. That’s the difficulties. On the other hand, for those limitations, I also can crack another path. Then I made acquaintances with the other side of non-mainstream production world and film distribution.

What is the purpose of Kineforum?
Watching movies are personal choices, same as reading books, magazines or listen to music. It’s just like that, plus now we have home video technology, pirates DVDs. It means that people has form their own tastes. The purpose of Kineforum, though can’t fulfil all the needs of audiences, for they are so varies, at least can give different way to watch movies, which is place in the context of a program above all, we wish that we can give more choice to audience to watch non-mainstream films.

Kineforum don’t charge any admission fee, how is the graphic of audience?
Depend on the theme. Quite low in January and February, because usually our potential audiences just finished to watch JIFFest (Jakarta International Film Festival), so for the reason of that they off. High in March, for it is a month full on Indonesia’s film history. People come not only for nostalgic reason but also many of them who wants to know what is the old films of Indonesia. In Ramadhan pasting month is high too, whether it was for useless activities or just stay a while in a cozy place to sleep, but the fact remains that the bioscope is full. I also analyse that people who came here were only passers by, and in the end they becomes routine audiences.

Is it effecting the basic ideas and purposes of Kineforum?
I don’t see the problem with that. Nevertheless, public responses are hardly be predict.

Having problems with the unstable numbers of audiences?
Essentially the basic problem is efficiency. There are expenses that we have to disburse to run the space. It must be different if we have only two audiences rather than 70. but for me that is not the main course. Even if we have only one audience, we will not stop the program. We always respect everyone who come here.

What kind of movies that audience like?
Indonesian films. All genre. If we count the index of viewers, the top fifteen must be Indonesian films, or at least relate to Indonesia.

Do you have any other program beside projection?
Other programs like discussion and workshops usually done here, but Kineforum is not the host.

Is there any movement by Indonesian filmmakers to speak about the importance of alternative bioscope to the government?
There is. But not well-organize, in a way that it’s not in the form of one solid lobby group and have full concentration in achieving its goal.

What is the big different between Indonesia and other countries?
In the side of audience, they really have high interest in watching films in programmed bioscope because usually this bioscope projects rare films. It hard in Indonesia for it is too easy finding pirate films. Here we don’t have any regularity to gather people except if they are parts of community. Take Korea for example, the government giving full support to the film committee to make and distribute films, including hosting programmed bioscope like Kineforum does. In Germany, programmed ioscopes are hosts by their own film community, where they are giving subsidy by their city administration, for it’s always consider as parts of city culture. In Japan, there is a government subsidy’s NGO to build museum and all. Different initiatives, but people who involve in the project are working independently.

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