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| Rotterdam Film Festival. Photo by Kenny Santana |
Rotterdam Film Festival 2003 (January)
My first international film festival. It's the coldest time of the year.
Brrr...But hey it's a good excuse to sit in a full house warm cinemas rather than being outside in the cold. Watching 5-6
films a day. Great relaxing atmosphere. People just mingled around comfortably.
People I met: Asako Fujioka (Tokyo International Film
Festival and Yamagata International Film Festival, Japan), Liu Wei Jan (Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan),
Kam Wai Kui (Transgender Film Festival, The Netherlands), Italo Spinelli (Asiatica Film
Mediale, Italy), Jeroen De Kloet (The Netherlands), Bob Wardhana (Erasmus Huis, Indonesia),
Natacha Devillers (Jakarta International Film Festival, France), Tom Abell and Kahloon
Loke (Peccadillo Pictures, United Kingdom), Andrew Chang (Media Luna Entertainment, USA).
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| The Teddy Jury at Berlin Film Festival 2003 |
Berlin Film Festival 2003 (February)
Still amidst the cold snowing weather, I managed to have the time of my
life! Only my second international film festival and I was already selected as one of the Teddy Jury in the festival.
Yippie! This festival is dead glamorous! Everyone would kill for my jury badge as I could access almost every place
by just flashing my badge. No more queues to get tickets in the morning. Got into an A-list of invitations to parties, events,
etc. The Teddy Jury are: David Robinson (UK), Jankees Boer (The Netherlands), Dagmar
Boguslawski (Germany), Nicholas Davis (Canada), Gali Gold (Israel), Hrafnhildur
Gunnarsdòttir (Iceland), May Haduong (USA), Liu Wei-Jan (Taiwan) and me
from Indonesia. So many people I met in this festival. I can't remember them all. But I was having a ball. Oh, but I have
to mention Wim Wenders. I spoke to him for 10 seconds but forgot to get his autograph! Damn! Thanks to: Manuela
Kay for taking care of me, Margaret Von Schiller, Wieland Speck, and Detlef
Gericke-Schoenhagen who sent me here in the first place.
Some names worth mentioning:
Julian Hernandez (Film maker, Mexico), James Wentzy (Film maker,
USA), Jochen Hick (Film maker, Germany), Yau Ching (Film maker, Hongkong), Louise
Hogarth (Film maker, USA), Jason Plourde (Seattle Queer Film Festival, USA), Romuald Karmakar
(Film maker, Germany), Tony Rayns ( I can't categorize this guy but he is an important figure in the Asian
film development, UK), Amir Muhammad (Film maker, Malaysia), Sherman Ong (Film maker, Singapore).
Asian Film Festival (Asiatica Film Mediale) 2003,
Rome, Italy (November)
Boy, I've been helping this festival since its first edition back in 2000.
I'm the correspondent film programmer for Indonesian films here. And finally, I'm here to see the festival for the first time.
Not too big in size but it has that friendly atmosphere. Showcasing an extensive wide range of films stretching from Iran
down to Indonesia. I realized that every film is translated into Italian language as an additional subtitle. Funny! Garin
Nugroho, the first New Wave director in Indonesia was honoured an award here and they were showcasing his retrospective
of films. Using an old theatre (very nice indeed), the festival treated its guests in a very spoiled way. Love it! Thanks
to the festival director Italo Spinelli and of course, Giuliana La Volpe, who's been really
really kind in organising everything for me!
Names to mention: Majid Majidi (Film Maker, Iran), Ching Po Wong
(Film maker, Hongkong), Elli Safari (Film maker, Iran), Ali Afsahi (Actor, Iran), Safarbek
Soliev (Film maker, Tajikistan), Alexandra Sun (Producer/Distributor, Hongkong).
Future Film Festival 2004, Bologna, Italy (January)
Interesting festival! Showcasing new technologies in animation cinema.
It's a very laid back atmosphere. But the ticketing is a bit of a mess. Lots of fun short films. And they screened my
old time favourite films from Tsui Hark, a crazy Hongkese film maker. All these martial art visual to my satisfaction. Great!
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| Rotterdam Film Festival 2004 Box Office. |
Rotterdam Film Festival 2004 (January)
Ah! It's that time of the year again. Lovely! Somehow I already
felt at home even this is only my second visit. Everything looked exactly the same, nothing changes. The atmosphere also is
still comforting me the same way too. This time, I'm representing a short film "Wanita Yang Berlari" (Exodus) by Singaporean
director Sherman Ong. I met him last year at Berlin Film Festival, and already we finally worked together and the
result is this short film being screened in Rotterdam. It is even mentioned in the festival catalogue as one of the favourites.
Wow! I'm proud of myself. I also met the same ol'faces from last year.
People I met: Simon Felding (the Director of Rotterdam
Film Festival), Osman Ali (film maker, Malaysia), Rocco Siffredi (Actor, Italy), Petra
Van Dongen and Doris Ng (Cinemasia Film Festival, The Netherlands).
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| The Bear Icon for Berlinale |
Berlin Film Festival 2004 (February)
Back in the cold Berlin. No more jury badge. sob...sob...That means I had
to wake up early in the morning to queue up for tickets. Damn...damn...DAMN! Met all the Teddy Jury this year. They are wonderful
people! This time I had so many meetings with people. Just running here and there frantically. The Indonesian delegation come
in quite a number this year. Lanny Tanulihardja, my ex-colleague from Goethe-Institut Jakarta, Garin
Nugroho (Film maker), Tintin Wulia (film maker), Kenny Santana - my colleague at
Q! Film Festival, Lisabona Rahman - an expert in Indonesian exile literature, Gunawan Mohamad -
the owner of Tempo Magazine, and Seno Joko - a journalist from Tempo Magazine. Berlinale this time is like
(I'm quoting James Wentzy) "Sex without Cumming". Now, I knew how he felt last year. But it's good to see people I knew from
last year too.
People I bumped into: Bruni Burres (Human Rights Watch
Film Festival, USA), Helen Loveridge (Seattle International Film Festival), Ekachai Uekrongtham (Film
maker, Thailand), Michael Brynntrup (Film maker, Germany), Folco Nathaer (Goethe-Institut,
Colombia), Ralf Sausmikat (European Media Art Festival, Germany), Jennifer Morris (San Francisco Gay
and Lesbian Film Festival, USA).
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| Rialto Cinema in Amsterdam |
Cinemasia Film Festival 2004, Amsterdam (March)
Amsterdam! Luv this city! The organiser of the festival gave me a bike!
Yippie! Never thought I would have a mean of transportation. So, this is the first Asian Film Festival in Holland. Needs a
lot of improvement still. The film selection is good enough for the first time. The theatres are nice. The staff too. We got
food and drinks. The parties are a bit too exclusive I find. The Indonesian film was sold out! Wow! And lots of Indonesian
people came to see it too. The reaction was good. It seems like everybody liked it. Had my moment of fame in drag. hahaha...Did
a few introduction of films during the festival. And the volunteers are nice. So easy to organise them. They are so discipline
with themselves.
Who's there: Carma Hinton (Film maker, USA), Justin Lin (Film maker,
USA), Nia diNata (Film maker, Indonesia), Nilesh Patel (Film maker, UK), Michael
Shaowanasai (Actor/Film maker, Thailand), Maryo J delos Reyes (Film maker, Phillipines), Wayne
Yung (Film maker, Canada)
Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2004, Italy (April)
My first gay and lesbian film festival. The audience is dominantly gay
male. The atmosphere is supportive, filled with energy. Claimed to be one of the top ten best hospitality in the world. Great
selections of films. Lots of parties, more than 250 films, and more than 150 guests. Asian films got some important notice
this year. Best Feature Film: Beautiful Boxer (Thailand). Special Mention in the Video Competition: Buffering
(Hongkong/Switzerland/USA/Macau) and A Moth and a Butterfly (Canada).
Getting personal with: Christian Scheuss (Journalist, Germany), Doris Ng
(Film maker, festival director, USA), Petra Van Dongen (Festival co director, The Netherlands), Gilbert
Kwong (Film maker, Canada), Kit Hung (Film maker, Hongkong), Dante di Loreto (Producer,
USA), Jay Weissberg (Journalist, Juror, USA), Augustin Vilaronga (Film maker, Juror, Spain),
Desi Del Valle (Actress, USA), Frank Mosvold (Film maker, Juror, Norway), Gilles
Bindi (Film maker, France), Eytan Fox (Film maker, Israel), Anette Ostero (Film
maker, Norway), Xavier-Daniel (Festival director, film maker, Spain), Yves Cantraine (Film
maker, Belgium), Davide Pepe (Film maker, Juror, Italy), Patrick Maurin (Film maker, Producer,
France), Nir Ne'Eman (Film maker, Israel), Ziad Touma (Film maker, Canada), Stephan
Woloszczuk (Film maker, USA), Spencer Lee Schilly (Film maker, USA), Julian Lee
(Film maker, Hongkong), Matthew Sandager (Actor, USA), Salim Kechiouche (Actor, France),
Jochen Hick (Film maker, Germany), Carlos Duenas (Film maker, Spain), Kai. S.
Pieck (Film maker, Germany), John Greyson (Film maker, Canada), Daniel Pace (Journalist,
Italy), Beat Schneider (Festival organizer, Switzerland), Claus Rabe (Film programmer, Germany),
Jesse Rodriguez (Film distributor, USA), Joachim Post (Festival organizer, Germany), Tadeo
Garcia (Film maker, USA), Maria Gutierrez (Film lecturer, USA).
Cannes Film Festival 2004 (May)
At the last minute I decided to go to Cannes. Cannes without an accreditation
is like sex without cumming. But I enjoyed my time there. Met some people, lying at the beach tanning, eating my ice cream,
cheap chinese fast food, went to see movies in the open-air theatre by the beach.
People I saw: Brad Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, Orlando Bloom, Adrian Brody, Alfonso Cuaron, Sean
Penn, Naomi Watts, Doris Ng, Petra Van Dongen, Nia diNata, Kit Hung, Tom Abell, Kahloon Locke, Maarten Rabart, Natacha Devillers,
Orlow Seunke, Simon Felding.
Gay Village, Rome, 2004 (August)
Will be working as an operational staff during the period.
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