Last Wednesday, in XXI Thamrin (which is still widely known as Teater Jakarta), the British Council proudly announced that their collaboration with Film London has begun with a Microschool here in Indonesia with local filmmakers. What is Film London’s Microschool? It is a program that offers emerging filmmakers intensive mentoring which encompasses script development, budgeting and scheduling, and marketing for feature films. How it works is that selected groups of filmmakers (consisting of director, producer, and screenwriter) go through an intensive one-week school where the participants will hopefully leave with knowledge to tackle the process of not only creating and funding the film, but also how to effectively market and distribute their product. After the school, they will also have Skype mentoring sessions, and as a final product the filmmaker will hopefully have a complete project they are ready to sell.
The mentors from the UK will include Ken Marshall of Steel Mill Pictures, Andry Brunskill from SUMS Film & Media, screenwriter and director Pail Fraser, and marketing and distribution expert Tom Grievson.
Director Riri Riza, who is one of the jurors in the film selection, explained that this type of mentoring program will familiarize and educate the participants regarding the film industry, a type of program that has never been applied in Indonesia, and can perhaps create a pilot program that can be supported by the recently created Creative Economy Body by the government. In addition to the school, the British Council explained that the filmmakers’ projects will be presented at the Film Equator Expo in a pitching forum where, if they are lucky, the teams will be able to get funding for their films. The pitching forum is a way of funding that has never been tried before, and can perhaps create new means for filmmakers to get capital.
After a careful selection late 2014, the participants have been narrowed down to four projects. The first is Night Bus, a fictional story of humanitarian situations by producer Darius Sinathrya, director Emil Heradi, and writer Rahabi Mandra. Second is The Escape, a project that tells the story of a migrant worker and the many human rights problem they face by director Nicholas Yudifar, producer Shirley Tamara, and writer Baskoro Adi. Third is Angkot, a film that revolves around happenings inside an Angkot by producer and director Rukiki Mariana, and writer Ninda Daianti. Last but not least is Bebas (Birdwatchers), a drama about a man who finds excitement when reminded of his past and deals with the superficiality of everyday life, the film is by producer Wilza Lubis and director & writer Edward Gunawan.
Be sure to take note as the directors selected for this program may just become household names for Indonesian films.
To further the collaboration, the British Council will also have a series of fringe events where the public can see some of the films that have been produced through the mentoring program. You can find them on our Events Page.
