My First Film Festival Experience

Festival Experience Studio blog post #1

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of what I’ve been learning about film festivals, I firstly want to express how excited I am for the upcoming weeks of this studio. I have always been fascinated with the concept of film festivals; there have been so many festivals in the past I’ve wished to attend, but never really had the time, money or people to go with. So this studio is honestly a blessing, I now have a good excuse to drag friends along, and I’m very excited to dissect and embrace the very essence of what makes a successful film festival experience.

So, last Friday, I got the chance to go to the opening night of the Indonesian Film Festival 2019 (IFF), called “Under the Stars”, where they screened the film Filosofi Kopi (2015, Angga Dwimas Sasongko). In the days leading up to the opening night, a particular part of the readings stood out to me, and I knew that attending the IFF would answer my anxious queries. In K. Stevens’ 7th Chapter of his novel, Australian Film Festivals, he identifies that “the health of Australia’s urban festival-scape is tied directly to the diverse nature of the emerging events”, to which he elaborates that film festivals in Melbourne were thought to have reached a point of saturation, but instead has flourished due to “the expansion of thematic and tailored events” for the many diverse cultures within our community. I’ve always been very proud of being a Melbournian because of our multiculturalism, and it was truly humbling to see this come to life before me on the night “Under the Stars”.

My grandfather is Indonesian but I’ve rarely gotten the chance to be in touch with this side of my heritage. So attending the opening night of IFF was a marvelous mix of my identities, colliding my Melbourne pride with my Indonesian roots, and of course, merged together through my love for cinema. With a cozy and inviting atmosphere, I could really sense the pride and identity at the festival, even though it was small and informal. If anything, I loved that the IFF was casual and homey and lacked this prestige that’s usually associated with larger film festivals like Festival de Cannes. There was this lovely Indonesian grandma serving food out of her rice cooker to the hungry young adults, a beautiful intimate outdoor setting with fairy lights, the volunteers were so welcoming with big smiles and they didn’t make my friend (who is of Chinese nationality) and I feel in any way like outsiders to this Indonesian event. Moments throughout the night sent me over waters, back to Jakarta with all my cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents, and I believe this nostalgia only scrapes the surface of how those who had lived and grown up in Indonesia, now living apart from their families must’ve really felt that night. Going to the IFF was such a wholesome experience for me, especially after a difficult first few weeks back to uni. In addition to that, it has opened my eyes up to so many possibilities of running a film festival and have given me many new ideas that I will bring to the table for the development of our own film festival at the end of the semester.

Such an exciting couple months ahead; so many festivals, such little time.