Indonesia to Be Celebrated at Singapore Media Festival

The Singapore Media Festival (SMF) 2017 is celebrating Indonesia as its Country-of-Focus.

Hosted by the Infocommunications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), SMF is in its fourth edition, which will be held from November 23 to December 3. This year’s spotlight on Indonesia will be present across all SMF constituent events, including the Asian Television Awards (ATA), Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), ScreenSingapore, Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) and SMF Ignite.

Key Indonesian media execs taking part in SMF include filmmaker Joko Anwar, who lends his experience in a panel discussing pertinent movements and partnerships in TV content; filmmaker Garin Nugroho will be leading an SGIFF masterclass on December 3; and actress Marsha Timothy, who will sit as one of three judges for the Silver Screen Awards’ Southeast Asian Short Film Competition.

SGIFF will see the screening of 20 Indonesian titles, including the Singapore premiere of Mouly Surya’s Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts and the international premiere of the teen romance thriller Posesif. A panel discussion on contemporary Indonesian cinema will be organized with speakers such as Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu, Bowo Leksono and filmmakers Yuda Kurniawan and Hari Suhariyadi.

At the SAFF Project Market, taking place as part of ScreenSingapore, five upcoming film projects by Indonesian filmmakers have been shortlisted for co-production ventures with the region’s top film financiers, producers, distributors and buyers. They are Lastri, a crime and suspense thriller; Marangka: The Corpse Flower, a fantasy-genre film; Stalker, a psychological thriller; The Hunted, an action-adventure film; and Yuni, a drama.

Under the ATF Formats Pitch, Gamaliel Paulus “Gammy” Setianugraha has been selected to compete against four finalists, with his original project Ranking, an info-tainment game show that pits participants against each other by getting them to rank or sequence information in the right order.

Three Indonesian films—Kamila Andini’s The Seen and Unseen, Makbul Mubarak’s The Malediction and Suryo Wiyogo’s Joko—are competing in the SGIFF Silver Screen Awards.

Ricky Pesik, the vice chairman of Badan Ekonomi Kreatif Indonesia (BEKRAF), commented, “It is an honor for Indonesia to be selected as Singapore Media Festival’s first Country-of-Focus, as well as an affirmation for its growing pool of content creators. The Festival is a world-class platform and a special opportunity to bridge, nurture and inspire the vibrant community of storytellers in both our countries and the region. As our commitment to our community of independent media professionals in Indonesia, BEKRAF is also happy to extend support to those keen on participating in the Festival this year. Beyond this celebration of 50 years of bilateral ties (between Indonesia and Singapore), I look forward to continued collaborations as we work together to elevate Asian storytelling for the world stage.”