Exploring Southeast Asian Film

Jealousy, sex and death in Malaysia. Alcoholic stupor in the Philippines. Loneliness in Singapore. Or corruption in Indonesia. These are just some of the themes explored by the young Southeast Asian filmmakers recently showcased by CineAsia Cologne.

Alex Agopian, one of the festival organisers, explained why they had chosen to focus on Southeast Asia:

"It’s a very exciting region and although you maybe hear news from these regions, it’s mostly catastrophic news and you don’t really get an insight into this culture, which is so rich and provides so many interesting stories that it would be a pity not to show them."

Countering horror

John Badalu, an Indonesian film expert and the organiser of Jakarta’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, explained young talented filmmakers with an advertising background were now hitting the international festival circuit and going against the mainstream that tended to cater to a young impressionable audience.

"Southeast Asian cinema is mostly dominated by horror films and also teenage love stories in general," he lamented.

"Most countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, even Thailand -- are dominated by horror films -- 70 percent of all productions."

Defying the authorities

"Kala" or "Dead Time" -- the latest film by critic-turned-director Joko Anwar takes a humorous poke at horror and love.

His examination of corruption in Indonesia’s public sphere through the eyes of a jaded cop and a narcoleptic journalist combines audience-pleasing elements and highbrow techniques to deliver a serious message.

The upcoming director said he wanted to defy his government, which has a promotes cinema that reflects Indonesian culture. What Indonesian culture Joko asked?

"It’s propaganda from the new order era," he complained. "Everything that comes from outside of Indonesia is bad and everything from inside our culture is good -- I don’t think that’s true."

Film as inspiration

Joko gave another reason for making films: "I grew up in a very bad area of a city called Medan in North Sumatra. Nobody went to school and everybody was doing crime."

"My family wasn’t a happy family so I saw the cinema as the only way to escape from that reality and watch different kinds of worlds. I got most of my education from the movies that I saw -- all kinds of education. I didn’t get it from my family, I didn’t get it from my schools. I ended up wanting to make films to give the same inspiration to people."

Educating and inspiring people is what cinema is all about after all. And regardless where the film is from "a good film is a good film," Joko Anwar added with a smile.

Generally, the audience in Cologne seemed to agree with the festival organisers that Southeast Asian cinema is "good" cinema, whether it is about finding love in Malaysia, re-writing history in Vietnam, tangled relationships in Singapore or breaking conventions in Indonesia.