Short Films Delve into Difficulties of Communication
Nelden Djakababa, Contributor, Jakarta, nelden.djakababa(at)gmail.com
How do we communicate with each other, and why? What do we reveal to others we relate with by what we say, or not?
These seem to be the basic questions posed by some of the Indonesian short film entries to this year’s Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest), under the flagship S-Express.
In this year’s JiFFest, S-Express is presenting selected short flicks from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and China.
S-Express is an active Southeast Asian network for short film exchange. Initiated in 2001 by programmers Yuni Hadi (Substation, Singapore), Chalida Uabumrungjit (Thai Film Foundation), and Amir Muhammad (Malaysian Shorts), the group has expanded to involve Indonesia (Minikino) since 2004, plus the Philippines (Alexis Tioseco), and China (Maggie Lee) since 2005.
Here are some takes on a selection of the S-Express Indonesian shorts:
Iqra (Read On, Ari Satria Darma, 2005, two minutes) is set in Central Jakarta’s bustling Jl. Bendungan Hilir. An unnamed man witnesses how letters and the words they form detach themselves from where they had formerly been positioned, and fly away into an unknown destination.
The main message of this eye-pleasing, technically effective animation is the question: What if letters ceased to exist? How empty would our world be, or perhaps, how more meaningful would it be without words?
Sebuah Percakapan yang Sangat Membosankan (A Very Boring Conversation, Edwin, 2006, nine minutes) tells the story of a conversation that goes on between a young man and the mother of his friend.
At first they discuss a musical piece composed by her daughter, and then about how to set up an e-mail account. The conversation carries on until the electricity fails.
Indeed, what they are talking about can fairly be labeled “boring”. However, it is the unspoken exchange between the two that is most telling, successfully carrying the subliminal sexual tension between the generations.
This tension shows up in nonverbal communication, like how the woman absently chews noodles, strand by strand, and the expression the young man has on his face while she reenacts her role as a stewardess back in the 1980s.
On the other hand, the conversation in Kulihat Tamanku (I see my garden, Renas Makki, 2005, four minutes) is far from boring. It shows a grief-stricken father speaking with (the spirit of?) his very sick baby child.
We do not hear the child’s voice, only knowing what he is saying through the subtitles. His voice is only audible to his father, who responds accordingly between sobs.
This story is probably based on a belief held in several regions in Indonesia, in which the spirit of a very sick person roams out of his or her body, and might try to communicate with loved ones.
But instead of attempting to scare the juices out of people by showing a digital image of the baby’s ghost, it effectively gives the audience a gripping awareness of what is absent.
Another interesting idea put forward in this film is the portrayal of an aspect of Indonesian men rarely seen in public: the man is crying his eyes out.
Here we see the correct assertion that expressing strong emotions is definitely not the sole preserve of women.
Indeed, communication is an indispensable need, even when you are restricted. Bongseng’s (Armando, Patrick, Triyono, and Andre, 2006, five minutes) filmmakers are inmates of the state-run Juvenile Prison in Tangerang. Here they introduce us to bongseng, a sign-language that has developed within the prison’s walls.
Behind the bars, young inmates communicate with each other through specific hand-and-finger gestures, spelling out letters that form words.
“We don’t want to yell (to each other) from our cells all the time. Besides, we also want to keep some secrets among ourselves,” says one of the inmates. The need to communicate has urged them to come up with this innovative means.
(S-Express Indonesia will be screened together with S-Express The Philippines, at eX Plaza XXI Studio 4, on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m., Dec. 15 at 4:30 p.m., and Dec. 17 at 9:30 p.m.)
Source: The Jakarta Post
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