Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – The Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) 2014 is back for its ninth edition on Monday with a special focus on women.
Almost 70 of the 75 films to be screened during the weeklong event will focus on women's issues or were made by women, according to JAFF manager Ajish Dibyo.
"Issues facing women are not new – but women in the context of cinema has a very interesting and important element," Ajish told The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta earlier this week.
Screenings for the festival, founded by auteur film director Garin Nugroho in 2006, are slated for the Yogyakarta Cultural Park, Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta and the Empire XXI Cineplex.
Hirokazu Koreeda's acclaimed family drama Like Father Like Son will open the festival on Monday, while Boong Joon-Ho's dystopian action film Snowpiercer will close the event on Dec. 6.
The festival will offer an Asian Features section, presenting films as diverse as M. Saffory's Zarandud from Tajikistan and Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto's Beatriz's War, the first feature film from Timor Leste; an Asia in Focus section, which will explore contemporary Japanese cinema; and a Light of Asia section, which will feature short films such as Sidi Saleh's Maryam, which won top honors at the Venice film festival, and Requiem for a Night and Blue Eyed Boys from Iran.
Meanwhile, the Faces of Indonesia section will focus on local films, such as NOAH, Putrama Tuta's documentary about the band's return to the spotlight after frontman Nazril "Ariel" Irham was released from prison following a sex scandal; as well as films with a local theme, such as Frenchman Bastian Meiresonne's Garuda Power, about the wild, sensational side of Indonesian action and exploitation movies.
Ajish said that there was also an "interesting" new competition where students from local five universities would judge films screened at the festival. "We will not just talk about film students making films – but more on how films are a medium for appreciation [and how to] read information or situations that are not conveyed directly through cinema."
The festival's main jury comprises director Hanung Bramantyo (Ayat-ayat Cinta, Verses of Love), activist Olin Monteiro and film critic Makbul Mubarak; while the jury for the award given by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) includes director Yosep Anggi Noen, whose short film took top honors at the Busan Film Festival, Francis Joseph Cruz a.k.a Oggs Cruz, and academic David Hanan.
The festival will feature a "community film jury", comprised of three local figures: Astu Prasidya, Bambang Kuntoro Murti a.k.a Video Robber, Alia Damaihati); while the short film jury comprises Kamila Andini, director of The Mirror Never Lies, Japanese director Osamu Minorikawa and Singaporean filmmaker Derek Tan.
The festival will give a space for film communities from Aceh; Palu, Central Sulawesi; Gresik, East Java; and Yogyakarta to share and discuss their film and filmmaking experiences, as well as a chance for viewers to watch films outside in its open-air cinema program, screening films such as Adriyanto Dewo's Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate), which approaches tolerance through food; and Angga Dwimas Sasongko's Cahaya Dari Timur: Beta Maluku! (Light from the East: We are Maluku!), which approaches ethic violence through soccer.
"Through this program we do not just encourage people to come to the cinema to watch films but we bring the cinema to the community, to bring the films closer to the people," Ajish said.
[For more information, visit jaff-filmfest.org.]
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/29/women-take-center-stage-jogja-asian-film-festival.html