The Signpost interviewed prolific featured content creator and former Signpost "featured content" report writer Crisco 1492 about ? and Indonesian Cinema. ? was the "Today's featured article" for 1 April 2013. 1 April is popularly known as April Fools' Day in many countries.
What inspired you to start the article ? and turn it into a featured article?
I first heard about ? from one of my students, who had had to watch it for her religion course at university. It sounded (and, ultimately, was) interesting, so I hunted down as much information as I could and turned it into a good article before it had been out for a year. When the DVD was (finally) released in early 2012, I decided to expand the article as best I could with the new sources; I also went into a more detailed search for reviews and other published reports. Ultimately the FAC passed in August after some helpful reviews.
The title was a bonus; it lent itself to a variety of possible April Fools jokes for 2012's DYK section ( nomination), such as "Did you know ... that 150,000 people in ten days saw ??" When Prioryman suggested using the article for April Fools, I agreed wholeheartedly. I still call it the shortest DYK hook ever, and I guess we can add shortest TFA as well.
Is there anything that you find especially interesting about Indonesian films in general? Well, my major is in Indonesian literature, but I like to think of that field as part of Indonesian popular culture as a whole. As such, I've done some writing (both on and off Wikipedia) on films and music as well. I envision them as being in a sort of dialectical relationship, where earlier works inspire later works (in the same or different media), while witnessing these later works may also change how we see earlier works. Marah Roesli's Sitti Nurbaya, for instance, inspired a film, several stage plays, two TV series, and at least one song; seeing the characters and their actions visualised will naturally affect how we read and interpret the book.
Indonesian popular culture, including films, are quite different than the American popular culture I grew up with back in Windsor, so I guess I was first interested in it because it's exotic. Many of them are based on Indonesian folk tales, legends, and novels, or feature Indonesian culture and history which has generally not reached Hollywood. The General Assault of 1 March (note that it's a redlink, as of the time of writing) inspired three films in Indonesia, but has received no attention in foreign cinema. Even the Jakarta-based films, which tend to have greater Western influence, still show an Indonesian character which reflects the socio-political concerns of society. Some themes which we can see include unchecked development, human trafficking, the shadow of communism, and the relationship between Islam and society.
If someone who had never seen an Indonesian film wanted to watch a small number of them to get a feeling for Indonesian cinema, which films would you recommend?
If someone were to look for an introduction to Indonesian cinema, the experience would depend heavily on their personal tastes. If one loves physical comedy, the works by Warkop are a good place to start, but if one prefers low-brow comedy I'd recommend Quickie Express. Some films which should be fairly readily available can be found here. For action films, the easiest to find is certainly The Raid: Redemption, which has already had a US release. There are also biopics like Soegija and Habibie & Ainun, as well as horror films like Mystics in Bali to choose from. My personal favourite so far is Ibunda.
A few which I think are fairly important, which any student of Indonesian film should watch:
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers content promoted between 24 March and 30 March 2013.
The Signpost interviewed prolific featured content creator and former Signpost "featured content" report writer Crisco 1492 about ? and Indonesian Cinema. ? was the "Today's featured article" for 1 April 2013. 1 April is popularly known as April Fools' Day in many countries.
What inspired you to start the article ? and turn it into a featured article?
I first heard about ? from one of my students, who had had to watch it for her religion course at university. It sounded (and, ultimately, was) interesting, so I hunted down as much information as I could and turned it into a good article before it had been out for a year. When the DVD was (finally) released in early 2012, I decided to expand the article as best I could with the new sources; I also went into a more detailed search for reviews and other published reports. Ultimately the FAC passed in August after some helpful reviews.
The title was a bonus; it lent itself to a variety of possible April Fools jokes for 2012's DYK section ( nomination), such as "Did you know ... that 150,000 people in ten days saw ??" When Prioryman suggested using the article for April Fools, I agreed wholeheartedly. I still call it the shortest DYK hook ever, and I guess we can add shortest TFA as well.
Is there anything that you find especially interesting about Indonesian films in general? Well, my major is in Indonesian literature, but I like to think of that field as part of Indonesian popular culture as a whole. As such, I've done some writing (both on and off Wikipedia) on films and music as well. I envision them as being in a sort of dialectical relationship, where earlier works inspire later works (in the same or different media), while witnessing these later works may also change how we see earlier works. Marah Roesli's Sitti Nurbaya, for instance, inspired a film, several stage plays, two TV series, and at least one song; seeing the characters and their actions visualised will naturally affect how we read and interpret the book.
Indonesian popular culture, including films, are quite different than the American popular culture I grew up with back in Windsor, so I guess I was first interested in it because it's exotic. Many of them are based on Indonesian folk tales, legends, and novels, or feature Indonesian culture and history which has generally not reached Hollywood. The General Assault of 1 March (note that it's a redlink, as of the time of writing) inspired three films in Indonesia, but has received no attention in foreign cinema. Even the Jakarta-based films, which tend to have greater Western influence, still show an Indonesian character which reflects the socio-political concerns of society. Some themes which we can see include unchecked development, human trafficking, the shadow of communism, and the relationship between Islam and society.
If someone who had never seen an Indonesian film wanted to watch a small number of them to get a feeling for Indonesian cinema, which films would you recommend?
If someone were to look for an introduction to Indonesian cinema, the experience would depend heavily on their personal tastes. If one loves physical comedy, the works by Warkop are a good place to start, but if one prefers low-brow comedy I'd recommend Quickie Express. Some films which should be fairly readily available can be found here. For action films, the easiest to find is certainly The Raid: Redemption, which has already had a US release. There are also biopics like Soegija and Habibie & Ainun, as well as horror films like Mystics in Bali to choose from. My personal favourite so far is Ibunda.
A few which I think are fairly important, which any student of Indonesian film should watch:
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers content promoted between 24 March and 30 March 2013.
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