The creativity of young people from Bandung is making the nation proud. A flow of innovative ideas is shaking the world. Togetherness and diversity serve as the main capital.
The audience at the first anniversary event of “Nonton Film di Gang”(“Watching Movies in the Alley”) at an alleyway near Jl. Dipatiukur in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday (30/8/2017), fell silent. The short film Pembatas (Border) had just finished playing and the audience was filled with questions.
The dialogue-less film was only one minute long. Directed by Deden M.Sahid, 34, the film only comprised a handful of scenes of Gedung Merdeka, the Asian-African Conference Museum, the historical Braga Street and a local branch of a famous US-based coffee shop franchise.
The audience, most of whom were young Bandung-based filmmakers, were so curious about the film that they asked for it to be replayed.
“The border referred to in the film is Jl. Braga,” Deden said, in response to the audience’s curiosity.
The historical and iconic street, Deden said, now separated two different worlds. Gedung Merdeka and the Asian-African Conference Museum stand on the left side of the street and represent the struggle against colonialism. Meanwhile, the coffee shop represents a different story. “The two sides stand in stark contrast to each other, but they are side-by-side in the same location,” Deden said.
The audience responded to that answer with thunderous applause. Some of them stood up in appreciation. On the surface, the film looks very simple.
It was shot in just one day, using a smartphone camera. However, it has a deeper meaning. A strong message of togetherness in diversity is perfectly captured by Deden.
Indonesian feel
Three months ago, Dedenmade another achievement. Armed with just a smartphone camera, he made a short film titled Semua Karena (All Because) that was nominated at the 33rd Hamburg International Short Film Festival 2017 in Germany. The film was nominated for the Three Minute Quickie Competition.
The film is one minute and 29 seconds long. Without using any dialogue, the film centers on various rupiah bank notes.
By folding the bank notes, Deden transformed the expressions on the portraits of national heroes on the notes from smiling to frowning. The film did not win in the competition, but it did gain a great response at the festival.
Deden said the film was inspired by the national political constellation during the 2017 Jakarta election. Political furor at the time threatened national unity.
“It was so frightening to me. It seemed like Indonesia was about to break apart. Our heroes struggled to unite the nation and yet, at the time [during the Jakarta election], the nation was almost torn apart,” he said.
The message was that the people should not allow themselves to be used to further certain groups’ political interests. “Differences and diversity are here to unite and not to sow enmity,” Deden said.
An Indonesian feel is also apparent in the smartphone game Tahu Bulat (Round Tofu) created by Bandung-based Own Games. Through promoting Indonesian uniqueness and diversity, Tahu Bulat won in the Guilty Pleasure award of the 1st International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) South East Asia 2016 in Malaysia.
“We were very proud of that,” Own Games founder Eldwin Viriya, 29, said.
An Indonesian feel is highly evident in Tahu Bulat. Its main character is a seller of tahu bulat, which is found only in Indonesia.
The game features several regions across Indonesia, each with their own icons. This includes Gedung Sate for Bandung, the SIB Monument for Medan and the Suro Boyo Monument for Surabaya.
“When I took part in the Apps Campus Awards in Finland in 2014, my mentor always talked about the importance of local identity,” Eldwin said.
The result was beyond expectation. The first version of Tahu Bulat was downloaded eight million times, and its creators earned millions of US dollars in profit. The game’s fame overshadows the popularity of Finnish game Clash of Clans.
“We launched Tahu Bulat 2 this year. It’s a city-building game where you get money from selling tahu bulat. Since its release in May 2017, Tahu Bulat 2 has been downloaded almost a million times,” Eldwin said.
Eldwin said the success only drove him to be more productive. He will continue to promote Indonesia in a new game that his team is currently developing. He will use the new game to showcase Indonesia’s uniqueness and excellence to the world.
“We will continue to innovate and create Indonesian-themed games. Hopefully, we can make the nation proud,” Eldwin said.
Global promotion
On Thursday (14/9/2017) afternoon at the Asian-African Conference Museum, one of the objects in the short film Pembatas, another one of Deden’s dreams was realized, thanks to Livi Zheng, 28. Born in Blitar, East Java, she is known as a young director that has reached Hollywood.
Her film Brush with Danger was included in eligible films for the 2015 Oscars. She is currently finishing four films about Indonesia.
In front of 110 Indonesian diplomats in a debriefing event for Indonesian diplomatic and consular officers, Livi said Indonesia’s diversity was deeply interesting in the eyes of foreigners. Her colleagues from South Korea, the UK and the US were all amazed by Indonesia’s diversity.
“The challenge is how to make them come just once to Indonesia. Afterwards, they will be hooked to come here again and again, due to the warm welcome and familial atmosphere,” she said in the event, held by the Foreign Ministry directorate general for public information and diplomacy.
Films are a good medium for promotion, Livi says. You can shoot films with anything these days, and the resulting products can showcase Indonesia’s diversity and identity to the world.
“Indonesia has everything. It is a beautiful country with diverse cultures and warm people. Let’s promote that to the world with our own films,” Livi said.
Indonesian youngsters are always full of talents. Through diversity, they emerge as legends.
