Goresan Ngawur

The embassy of Republic Indonesia in Hungary and Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture have successfully organized Indonesian film festival in Urania National Film Theater. The objective of this event is to introduce Indonesian culture (films) to Hungarian audiences which will ultimately strengthen the relationship between them. More importantly, Indonesian FIlm Festival 2008 is expected to support ‘Visit Indonesia 2008‘ program.The event itself lasts from February 21 until 27 and contains seven national films which had won several national and international awards. Urania National Film Theater shows one film per day and charges 890 Forint (approximately 45.000 Rupiah) per person.

February 21
Indonesian film festival was begun after our Ambassador gave a short speech about the event and its aims. First film shown was Cinta dalam Sepotong Roti (1991), starring young Tio Pakusadewo, Adjie Massaid and Rizky Erzet Teo. The film was about the second honeymoon of two young couple. They are accompanied by their childhood friend who actually loves his friend’s wife. He and the lady have something in common, that is Srikaya jam. This second honeymoon was filled with internal conflict of the couple, and what began as a minor skirmish turned into a ‘full-scale riot’.

February 22
Second film shown was Pejuang (1961), starring Bambang Hermanto, prominent actor of the time (according to my father). The movie itself was not a colour ones. In 1947, a pleeton led by Amir had to defend one strategic bridge while protecting the refugees. One of the refugees was one educated young lady named Irma, with whom Amir fell in love.
Amir had two best friends, Imron, who also fell in love with Irma, and Seno, who dated Amir’s sister. Amir and his sister were finally captured by Dutch and the rest of them evacuated. Seno and Imron were involved in the conflict of interest, because Seno wanted to rescue his friend and his beloved girlfriend while Imron saw that he could use the absence of Amir to approach Irma.
One important message delivered in the end of this film was JANGAN BERHENTI BERJUANG, BANYAK YANG SUDAH JADI KORBAN.

February 23
Third film shown was Pagar Kawat Berduri (1961), another black and white film.
Some Indonesian soldiers were captured in Dutch war camp. One of them, Parman, approached Ducth officer, Koenen, by pretending to be a teacher. Parman tried to help two important soldiers, Herman and Toto, to escape from the camp. We evidenced the sacrifice of Indonesian soldiers of the time, they preferred their own country to their family and fought Dutch bravely although they admitted that their weapons were dwarfed by Dutch’s. One of them even had to sacrifice his life to avoid the guards from shooting Herman and Toto.

February 24
Fourth film shown was Ibunda (1986), starring Tuti Malaon, Ria Irawan, Onny Mayor and innocent young Ayu Azhari. The film centered on the mother’s position in facing her sons’ and daughters’ problems. Fitri and her boyfriend, Luke, are ostracized by Ida, eldest sister, and her rich Javanese businessman. The reason behind this is Luke is not Javanese but Irian. Fikri, the second son, abandons his wife and son to be an actor, which lead him to an affair with the producer.

February 25
I just came back home after watching Heart (2005). Perhaps, some of you have watched this film, it is over-sentimentalized film about one boy who falls in love with comic writer who suffers from heart (the real heart I meant) disease. His childhood friend just can support him although she actually loves him but has always been too shy to say.

Urania National Film Theater will show 9 Naga (2006) tomorrow and Nagabonar Jadi 2 (2007), one of my favourite, in the last day. I was surprised to know that there are actually lot of Hungarians who are eager to know about Indonesian film. In order to attract more visitors, I distributed some brochures and posted some posters about this festival in my university. Some of my friend are planning to come and watch Nagabonar Jadi 2.

I still can not believe that I watched Indonesian films NOT IN INDONESIA. Okay, you can watch Indonesian film in youtube whereever you are. I watched Indonesian films in HUNGARIAN NATIONAL THEATER. Okay, now it is amazing. I was among those who smiled and clapped after the film ended. I do hope that after this fantastic occasion, there will be more and more people who have brief picture of Indonesia and feel that they have to visit Indonesia.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Articles in English, Budaya, Catatan Pribadi, Film, Hongaria, Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.