Imported Film Monopoly

Since the late President Soeharto stepped down from power on May 1998, Indonesia has been forced by foreign creditors especially the IMF to adopt a liberal economy and prohibit business monopoly.

As a result, state owned companies that used to have monopoly on the sales of their products must allow other companies to compete with them in the business.

State owned companies like sole distributor of petroleum PT Pertamina must allow Shell, Total and, Petronas to sell their products directly to the consumers.

However, there is one business which is still monopolized by one business group i.e import and circulation of Hollywood film, which is done by by the Group-21 as owner of 570 out of the 676 screens in theaters all over Indonesia.

According to Associated Press, Hollywood film producers fully supported the Group-21, this can be seen from the fact  that when the government imposed import duty on films, film makers like Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Century Fox Film, Universal Pictures and others stopped sending their films last February.

Even after the government revised the import duty regulation last June, Hollywood producers were reluctant to send films because Group-21 was challenging more than US$ 30 million unpaid levies and other penalties in Court. They only want to start sending the films again to Omega Film which is related to the Group-21.

Several weeks ago, the Customs office temporarily halt Omega Film's  import license because there were allegations that it is related to Group-21.

Those Hollywood film producers cannot  have their own distribution company here like in other countries because our investment law does not allow foreigner to invest on this kind of business.

I hope that the government and the fair business competition commission would seriously investigate the allegations that Group-21 have been monopolizing the import of films.
I also hope that film businessmen in Indonesia would import more films from Europe and Asia.

Avatar Tree for President SBY

President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) has been presented an Avatar Home Tree by the producer and maker of the movie AVATAR i.e. James Cameron.

Antara quoted Presidential spokesman Dino Patijalal as saying that the gift was presented in the form of an Oak Tree in a ceremony that took placed at Los Angeles, in which James Cameron said that Indonesia has important role in preserving world environment.  And the Oak Tree will be part of the one billion trees SBY promised to plant every year in Indonesia. At that time, SBY was represented by our Consular General in LA.

I hope this symbolic gift will strengthen SBY's determination to make Indonesia reduce 26% gas emision by 2020, as he promised world leaders last September, among others by masive planting of trees and stop deforestration.

Photo:  Courtesy of Antara.

Rin Sakuragi in Indonesia

Few months ago, the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) rejected a plan by Japanese Porn Star Miyabi a.k.a Maria Ozawa to play in an Indonesian comedy film: Menculik Miyabi (Kidnapping Miyabi).

As a result, the film producer Maxima Production was forced to stopped the making of said film.

Recently, MUI Samarinda, East Kalimantan, has rejected a Horror film produced by the said producer i.e Suster Keramas (Hair Washing Nurse) stared by another Japanese Porn Star Rin Sakuragi(20).
According to MUI Samarinda the film is not worth watching because it is not educative and might cause decadence among young people in Indonesia. The decision was supported by MUI Jakarta.

Meanwhile Maxima Production who has scheduled to screen the film all over Indonesia on 31 December 2009, refused to give any comment because they haven't heard about the said rejection.

For detailed media reports on the above, please click here and here.

Considering the new Film Law and the Anti-Pornography Law, it would be interesting to know the development of this matter.


Photo: Courtesy of Detik.

Avatar, the Movie

This afternoon, me and my son Virya watched the film Avatar at a cinema in Bintaro, Tangerang, where I lived 6 years ago before I moved to South Jakarta.

It is a 2009 American science fiction written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang, officially budgeted at $237 million.
It was enjoyable that I deemed necessary to quote a review on the film from Wikipedia.

In the year 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, the lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus, in the Alpha Centauri system. Parker Selfridge, (Giovanni Ribisi), the administrator, employs former marines as mercenaries to provide security. The humans aim to exploit Pandora’s reserves of a valuable mineral called unobtanium.

Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a paleolithic species of sapient humanoids with feline characteristics. Physically stronger and several feet taller than humans, the blue-skinned indigenes live in harmony with Nature and worship a mother goddess called Eywa.

Humans cannot breathe Pandora’s atmosphere. In order to move about Pandora uninhibited, human scientists have genetically engineered human-Na’vi hybrid bodies called Avatars, which are controlled by genetically matched human operators. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine, arrives on Pandora to replace his murdered twin brother, an Avatar operator. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the head of the Avatar Program, considers him an inadequate replacement for his brother, relegating him to a bodyguard role.

While Jake is escorting Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) in their Avatar forms, the group is attacked by a large predator, and Jake becomes separated and lost. Attempting to survive the night in Pandora’s dangerous jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), a female Na'vi. Neytiri brings Jake back to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri’s clan, the Omaticaya. Mo'at, (C. C. H. Pounder), the Na'vi shaman and Neytiri's mother, instructs her to teach him their ways.

Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the mercenary leader of the security forces, learns of Jake’s relationship with the Omaticaya, and offers him the chance to walk again in exchange for providing intelligence about the natives and learning what it will take to make them abandon Hometree, which rests above a large deposit of unobtanium.

During the next three months, Jake becomes close to Neytiri and the Omaticaya, and begins to prefer the life he lives through the Avatar. Jake's attachment begins to erode his loyalty towards the corporation and the humans (a phenomena called in the past "going native") and when he is finally initiated into the tribe, he and Neytiri choose each other as mates. Jake's change of loyalty is revealed when he disables a bulldozer as it destroys the Tree of Voices; upon seeing this, Col. Quaritch forcibly disconnects him from his Avatar, and presents Selfridge and Augustine with a vlog in which Jake had admitted that his mission was fruitless; that the humans had nothing the Omaticaya considered to be of value and that they would never abandon Hometree. This convinces Selfridge that negotiations would be fruitless and he orders the destruction of Hometree by a military strike.

Augustine, whose research suggests that all organisms on Pandora are linked in a vast bio-botanical neural network, protests at the destruction of Hometree, but Selfridge persists, allowing Jake only one hour to convince the Na’vi to leave before Col. Quaritch’s forces arrive. When he reveals the true nature of his mission to the Omaticaya, Neytiri accuses him of betraying them, which results in Jake and Augustine's temporary imprisonment. Jake’s time runs out and Quaritch’s forces destroy Hometree. Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's father and clan chief, and many others are killed in the attack. Jake and Augustine are once again disconnected from their Avatars and detained for treason against the humans. Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a security force pilot who is disgusted by the violence, breaks them out but Augustine is wounded by the ruthless Quaritch during their escape. With Augustine in a critical state, Jake turns to the Omaticaya for help. Searching for a way to regain their trust, he remembers that Neytiri told him that only five Na'vi had ever tamed the Toruk, an immensely powerful flying beast. Successfully taming it, he flies to the Na’vi, who have gathered at the sacred Tree of Souls. He pleads with Mo'at to heal Augustine, who is now dying. They attempt to transplant her soul into her Avatar but fail.

With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), the new leader of the Omaticaya, Jake vows defiance against the humans, and assembles thousands of Na'vi from other clans. Jake prays to Eywa to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi in the coming battle. Col. Quaritch, seeing the Na'vi's growing strength, orders a preemptive strike on the Tree of Souls, as it is the center of Na'vi religion and culture; its destruction would leave the Na'vi too demoralized to continue resisting the humans.

As the humans move against the sacred site, the Na’vi fight back fiercely, but human technology and firepower outweigh their bravery; they suffer heavy casualties, among them Tsu'Tey and Trudy. When all hope seems lost, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly attack the humans in great numbers, overwhelming them in the air and on the ground. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake's prayer.

Quaritch orders the bombing of the Tree of Souls but Jake destroys the bomber before it can reach its target. Quaritch escapes in an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) suit. He finds the Avatar interface pod, where Jake’s human body is located, and attacks it, damaging it and exposing Jake to Pandora's atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake, seeing his human form for the first time. With the human attack successfully repelled, they reaffirm their love for each other.

The defeated humans are expelled from Pandora, while Jake and his friends remain. Jake is seen wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya clan leader, suggesting that he has become the new leader after the death of Tsu'Tey. The film ends with Jake's soul being successfully transplanted into his Na'vi Avatar.

Amendment of the Film Law

Yesterday, the Indonesian Parliament(DPR) passed a Film Law Bill which amended the Film Law No. 8/1992, and will be effective after the President sign the Bill.

The new law stipulates that at least 60 percent of the overall screen time in cinemas throughout the nation should be alocated for Indonesian films.
Further, movie producers are required to obtain licenses from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Furthermore, domestic filmmakers and foreign producers who want to make films in Indonesia must submit plans, movie titles and scenarios to the authorities at least three months before making the film. Violations could result in a prison term of up to five years and a fine of up to $500,000.00.
Moreover, a special film censor agency will be set up.

According to the Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, the new law will boost the national film industry. He said : "The number of films will increase and will be better quality so that the national films wil be host in their own country".

Whereas the Indonesian film community protested because they said that the DPR passed the Film Law bill without paying attention to their opinions.
Actor Deddy Mizwar said that the bill is against freedom of expression, director Riri Riza said that the law do not provide conducive condition for the growth of film industry, and producer Manoj Punjabi said the law will not enhance growth of the film industry.

For details on the above, please click here, here, here, here and here.

Considering that the Film Law Bill has been passed by the DPR, and will be effective after the President sign it, I hope that its implementation would not be contradictory to its mission i.e. to boost the growth of film industry in Indonesia.

Image: Courtesy of Forum Politisi