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'It's a man's world': Film community campaigning to make industry safer place for women

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Jakarta Post - February 11, 2020

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Producer Mira Lesmana knows that film sets could be unsafe places for women.

While producing her latest movie, Bebas, last year, she took time to personally address the whole crew on the first day of work, telling them that her set had to be a "safe environment".

"I told them, especially the women: Don't be afraid to tell your friends or myself if you experience sexual harassment on set," she said.

Mira said she often heard about sexual harassment on film sets. The first time was in 2008 when a female crew member reported her case to Mira.

"The film industry is a man's world even though many producers and crew members are women," she said.

Mira spoke to The Jakarta Post, tirto.id and magdalene.co during a limited press conference on Jan. 30 to express support for people who want to make the film industry safer for women amid reports of sexual abuse on sets. They joined forces after a survivor spoke up about what happened to her on a film set.

Harassment on set

A recent case happened to Mian Tiara, a musician and performer who participated in the production of a short film in Jakarta late last year. She told the press conference about a "senior actor" who harassed her on set.

"He was my senior so out of respect I tried to be polite when he wanted to chat with me. He was sitting next to me and he was stroking my thigh," she said.

"There was so much going on in my head, I was feeling violated."

"Disgusted," as she said, she tried to avoid him, to be far away from him as much as possible. She did not tell anyone about it at first because the shooting was not finished and she did not want to disrupt production.

Later, all crew members were called to pose for a picture together and she made sure the "senior actor" was far from her. However, the photographer took more than one picture and somehow he wormed his way near her again. The photographer told them to jump, so Mian took the opportunity to jump away from him. "But he pulled the back of my pants," Mian said, demonstrating the forceful way he pulled her to him. "It was as if he was telling me: 'Hey, you've been a bad girl'," she said. "I froze."

She finally told the director and the producer and after a week, she told her manager. The producer communicated Mian's report to the actor but he denied any wrongdoing and he became angry instead.

Likeminded people

Weeks later, Mian felt the need to share her story on Twitter. After that, journalists contacted her and some wrote articles based on her Twitter thread.

But she said she felt the articles did not help her case. So she sought support from the community and, facilitated by fellow musician Kartika Jahja, she got connected with people who wanted the film industry to be a safe workplace, like Mira Lesmana, Hannah Al Rasyid, producer Meiske Taurisia and film archivist Lisabona Rahman.

Hannah, an actor, came to know Mian after she read Mian's Twitter thread on the sexual harassment she experienced. "I was physically triggered [reading that] in the car. I experienced very similar things on a film set. My body started shaking," she said.

Later she learned from Mian that the "senior actor" was the very same one who harassed her.

"When he shook my hand, his hand lingered. Disgusting. When he sat next to me he would cramp my space until our knees were touching. He invaded my personal space; his face was in my face, the distance shorter than a 30-centimeter ruler," Hannah said.

She said the senior actor was not the only one harassing her; there was another male actor. She also heard stories from other women.

"We did not do anything; we did not file a formal complaint. These men are powerful people and there was no procedure in place so we employed a warning system," Hannah said.

The warning system was an informal method of telling other women which people on the film sets were known for their harassing or abusive habits.

However, knowing something like that doesn't mean one can avoid being harassed. Aline Jusria, a film editor, said she was also a victim of the senior actor who harassed Mian and Hannah.

"It was a long time ago: the same person. He was notorious for having a wandering hand. When I told the others what he did to me, they said: Just let it go; have some pity on his family," Aline said.

"We are the victims but why are we the ones who have to extend sympathy?" Aline said.

All three women refused to name the senior actor for fear of being reported to the police for violation of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which has put many people in jail for either defamation, hate speech, or blasphemy.

Ongoing actions

Last year in March, nine people in the film industry started a campaign to make the film world a safer place. They are Jonathan Pasaribu, Agus Mediarta, Albertus Wida Wiratama, Amerta Kusuma, Arie Kartikasari, Lintang Gitomartoyo, Lisabona Rahman, Mazda Radita and Vauriz Bestika.

Speaking at the limited press conference about the campaign, called Sinematik Gak Harus Toxic (Cinema Doesn't Have to be Toxic), Lisabona and Albertus said they began the movement after receiving testimonies from victims of sexual abuse, not only on film sets, but also when involved in other aspects of the film industry, like festivals or organizations.

They opened a Google Form for victims to report sexual abuse cases within the film community. "We want to map the pattern of sexual harassment or abuses within the film community," the form says.

To ensure a safe workplace, Mira said, Miles Films had introduced standard clauses in contracts that prohibit anyone from committing sexual harassment and abuse.

The clauses are under an article on drug abuse and sexual harassment, which stipulates that film crew members would not commit sexual violence, verbally or physically, on others. If they are proven to commit sexual violence, the producer would report them to the government authorities and would terminate their contracts unilaterally.

Another clause says that crew members have the right to report any sexual violence that happens to them and the producer would investigate the cases.

Mira had shared her concerns with other producers, but those responding were mostly women, she said. One of them was Meiske of Palari Films.

"The film industry still considers sexual harassment as normal," Meiske said.

She encouraged women to speak up and she said she would make sure the environment was safe enough so the victims would be confident enough to report harassment.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/02/10/film-community-campaigning-to-make-industry-safer-place-for-women.html

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