Ni Made Tasyarani, Jakarta – Like movie characters clawing their way toward a happy ending, small film producers are fighting their own uphill battle, one simply to be seen by audiences.

"For a small production house, even with a good-quality movie production, it will be difficult for them [to break into cinemas] without the access to, or involvement of, large players in the production process," Satrio Pepo Pamungkas, director and producer at iVOLKS Kreatif, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Satrio is among the independent filmmakers who lament that, despite the country's booming movie industry, the gates to the big screen remain tightly guarded. According to him, several major production houses have tightened their grip on cinema chains, allowing them to prioritize their own films for the limited screening slots.

He warned that this prolonged dominance risks creating a form of "hegemony," where filmmakers feel compelled to churn out only mainstream crowd-pleasers. Meanwhile, independent creators hoping to introduce fresh perspectives and diversify Indonesia's storytelling palette continue to face scarce screen access.

Similarly, Gavriel Barnabas, a producer at SantaraFilmachine, said that the domination of a few major players in the movie industry had led to what he called a "creative block," referring to the dominance of similar types of films in the market.

Speaking to the Post on Thursday, Gavriel pointed out that some major players already hold exclusive deals with the country's largest cinema chain, Cinema XXI. Meanwhile, small producers cannot rely on other theater networks such as CGV Cinema and Sam's Studio, which operate too few screens to help filmmakers break even.

Another challenge for new production houses hoping to enter cinemas is that theaters tend to trust post-production work only if it is handled by high-end studios.

"It's actually very hard for new production houses to break into cinemas. Some have waited for two to three years, only for their films to never make it to the screen," Gavriel said.

Reflecting on his own experience, Gavriel, who is preparing for his first feature-length release in Cinema XXI, said he managed to secure screenings partly because he worked with a reputable post-production studio used by prominent directors like Joko Anwar.

With rising competition for big-screen space, both Satrio and Gavriel argued that independent producers are also seeking alternative avenues for release, including film festivals, streaming platforms and YouTube.

Concerns over industry domination in Indonesia's film sector have previously been raised by House of Representatives Commission VII, which oversees micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Lamhot Sinaga, the commission's vice chairman, said in a working meeting on Nov. 6 that the nation's movie industry had been largely dominated by a few major players who control multiple levels of the film business value chain.

"They own the cinemas, manage [film] imports and run their [own] production houses. Obviously, they will prioritize their movies for the big screens," he said.

Lamhot went on to say that such market dominance risked edging out struggling production houses from securing screens, regardless of the quality of their work.

Last year, economic circulation in the movie industry reached Rp 3.2 trillion (US$191.5 million), marking a 15 percent increase from 2022, the year after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Lamhot noted that the rising figure had yet to translate into fair opportunities for all producers.

He cited that 60 percent of local movies were exhibited in major cinemas, with most of them produced by a handful of dominant players.

Edwin Nazir, chairman of the Indonesian Movie Producers Association (APROFI), emphasized that the increasingly tight competition stems largely from the country's limited number of movie screens amid a rise in film production.

He told the Post on Thursday that Indonesia's film industry had seen significant improvement and was even surpassing its pre-pandemic growth, boosting investor confidence to support more productions.

In 2024, local studios released 152 movies, and that number is projected to grow to at least 200 annually by 2028, according to data from the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) Market. Ticket sales are also expected to rise by 10 percent each year, reaching around 100 million admissions by 2026.

Meanwhile, the country currently has only 2,375 movie screens in 496 theaters serving a population of over 280 million, one of the lowest ratios in Asia.

Edwin stressed the need for more movie screens, particularly in second- and third-tier cities, to give filmmakers more room to distribute and exhibit their work. He added that alternative spaces, such as art-house and community cinemas that often host indie films, remain very limited.

He also noted that, on the production side, the government could introduce incentives to strengthen local production capacity and improve talent development through better educational facilities.

"The government should formulate regulations that can drive industry growth across the value chain," Edwin said.

Source: https://asianews.network/indonesias-film-industry-boom-leaves-little-room-for-small-producers