Negotiate The Discourse of Audio Visual at The Alternative Bioscope

What is the basic concept of independent bioscope?
The concept of independent bioscope is completely run by community, in financing and its management. Kinoki is one of them, where the financing and management totally arrange by community. For Kinoki, all this time, the financing derive from personal donations and profits which attain from Bukan Coffeeshop (name of Kinoki coffeeshop, ed.), therefore the whole management and direction for program development steadfastly in the area of Kinoki itself. The independent and alternative bioscope, in term of Kinoki, is not only in the audio visual curatorial material, but also in its program development.

Can you explain what kind of method that use by Kinoki?
Kinoki has method and format similar to Kineforum (Jakarta) and Kineruku (Bandung), which is based art house theater program. The program conduct as an extract of a developed discourses, and orchestrate with the course of each spaces, together with open-up broad communication spaces. In the context of Kinoki, this is bridge by monthly bulletin and blog that explain program, theme and viewers community as a monthly discussion room on the elevated subject.

What exactly does it mean?
Kinoki Bukan Bioskop (name of Kinoki bioscope, ed.) has three main concentrations: exhibition, education and review. All of this derive from the routine programs such as daily screening, class formation and annual workshop like Mari Menonton (Lets go to the Movie) program, as well as journal publication.

What is the main reason of such programs?
There are couples of reasons. Firstly because of the missing link in film industry: appreciation. Every works encounter the same problems in term of distribution. Whilst some works offer to the distribution company, the concentration appear in the pattern of allocation which is surely related with frequency. In term of quantity, it able to answer the question of feedback as the public views to some works, but not in term of quality. How would the public respond to it? How will the possible communication be  between the public and filmmakers? What kind of spaces possible to accommodate the demands? These will end to the bigger problems: the lack of film study, viewers as mass (imagining audience), and more. This also operate in the works of film overall. Secondly, the astray of alternative learning spaces, including accommodate diverse approaches beyond the rigorous curriculum about the film as an artwork and media.

What concept administered by Kinoki?
With the direction of such framework, all this time Kinoki operate the concept of partnership and base on community. Every programs offers, whether the routinely screening or class and workshop, depends on active participation. In other word, the materials, themes and methods can be originates from the Kinoki public. Kinoki act only as facilitator of the place and mentoring. Thus, the term of alternative and independent bioscope is notwithstanding of economic inadequacy or the standardize operational measure. Kinoki also look forward to provide standard facility for watching space, not in the sense of leveling the exact position of commercial bioscope, but to give satisfaction and comfortable place to the public.

So, what make alternative bioscope distinct from the establish bioscopes?
The basic distinction between alternative bioscope and other forms that ever, or even has existed before is, the two way communication. Kinoki relies on this certain communication type, as a prototype of discourse negotiation with audio visual as the chief medium. Something that can’t be achieved in the tent cinema, which is also an alternative screening format, and clearly different with the commercial bioscope which specialize on certain genre (such as sex film/B class film).

Can you mention independent bioscopes abroad? How does the concept works comparing to the independent bioscopes here in Indonesia?
I hardly can’t say about it, but from the story of some friends whom just arrive from abroad, similar kind of Kinoki can easily find in the city of students. Normally the hosts are Kine Clubs or communities which has root in film studies. The management are relatively alike. There’s a bar to support the economic requirement of the bioscope. Another part is a showcase form of a festival or annual event with different scales. For instance, the college grounds that has the summer show with the bioscopes, usually organizing weekend screening with films materials they has been play from the event of the previous year.

What is the idea behind Kinoki tagline, ‘Bukan Bioskop Bukan Coffeshop’?
Literally, Bukan Bioskop mean not doing anything that is normally execute by a commercial bioscope. Here, people can watch the film for free, you can smoke, eats, drinks and sits wherever you comfort. In term of utopia, Bukan Bioskop also want to talk about something beyond the normal bioscope, which is active participation of the audiences.

What kind of impact that Kinoki wish by all this?
In minor scale, we hope to shift public point of view about audio visual that is not just a tool for entertainment only. Audience participations in deciding their watching materials have an enormous influence to the construction of vision in the film they wanted to watch, and also in the materials of audio visual in general. In major scale, audiences have big portions to involve in deciding the related policies. This related with the development of film study (How many filmworkers express that audiences are still stupid? In contrast, how many filmwrokers really known their audiences flesh and blood, beyond the language of market segmentation?). It would be a thrill if one day similar petition which propose by The Indonesian Film Society (MFI) on the censorship eventually come from the audiences that all this time being stated in the position of “the protected”. For me as personal, and all my friends whom involve in Kinoki, this is not too good to be true. In fact, this will be the reality, and I am glad that I am a part of that steering wheel which move to the direction.

How is the censorship relate to the establish bioscopes?
In my opinion, the commercial bioscopes has nothing to do with censorship. They are not afraid. The commercial bioscopes only connected with distributors or film production houses which follows the fix tracks. Blitz Megaplex, for instance, worrying the rule which not arrange the matter of digital bioscope, and censor as one of the article in the convention. In America or England, the one that make a pact to create system clasification is producers association, while bioscope, as short as I know, accepted it as commodity.

What can you say about the future of independent bioscope in Indonesia?
The future of alternative bioscope actually very promising, regarding to the public demands, however if we look on to the readiness of the aspirant bioscope management, it’s still lack. All this time, the kind of activity only consider still as a “just push play” action, less apparent set up on the target and its constant sustainability. To be frank or evasive, this could make the public more further away from comprehensive understanding on the concept propose by the emergence alternative bioscope.

Is there any desire to setting up a bioscope, with the concept like a movie theater, in the future?
Becoming an alternative bioscope with the scale as enormous as movie theater is of course the aspiration of every movie freaks. For Kinoki, the priority for now is just maximizing its function as space, not place, for communication.

Any method to fulfil that aspiration? Cooperate with companies or government institutions?
If to wish to own a movie theater, then it has to be resulted from Kinoki cooperation with various organizations with the same interests as we are. Government is one of them, if ever they seek to that viewpoint. I don’t see why not? Big companies, if it is view as corporate social responsibility, so the corporation has making a quantum leap. But can we very expectant?

Well, if one day all the independent bioscopes with the concept of movie theater finally emerge, what can they do about the matter of censorship?
If an alternative bioscope can expand its place to become a movie theater with commercial standardize measure, it should be not to losing its sense as a space to communicate and negotiate. The censorship is a one-sided action that has close the paths. The possible action for us is to setting up audience database center and arrange classification team for audio visual materials which we want to screen for. This is a very feasible process and better to initiate from now, to make the condition healthier in the future, whether we have the international standardized theater or not.

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