Visinema Chief on Indonesian Cinema’s Breakthrough Year: ‘It’s About Time’
The youngest Indonesian director to have won the Citra Award for Best Picture at the Indonesian Film Festival in 2014, Angga Dwimas Sasongko, finds immense optimism seeing the rapid growth of Indonesian cinema in a year that has seen it claim a significant market share locally.
“It’s about time,” he told Variety, seeing the enthusiasm at the ongoing Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival and the inaugural JAFF Market.
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“We have a strong market here in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is fortunate enough to not just recover [from the pandemic downturn], but find its community [as an artform],” Sasongko, co-founder of content powerhouse Visinema Pictures, said.
The award winning director has championed Indonesian cinema along with his wife, Anggia Kharisma through their production studio for years. “In the last five years, the quality of Indonesian films have grown so much,” Sasongko said.
“This has to do with accessibility too. Cinemas have expanded to many more cities now, gaining a new wave of audiences along with heightened interests with them,” he said.
“In this year alone, [Indonesia] as a film industry has gained over 60% of market share,” Sasongko explained. “Some might argue that it’s because Hollywood flicks aren’t being screened here, but that’s not necessarily true.” According to Sasongko, local audiences find resonation with Indonesian films for its proximity – there’s a sense of relatability with its given nuances. “Their familiarity with the language, and faces of course; it draws the audience [to feel] closer [with local films].”
Though horror films are still the forefront of Indonesian films, he noted how elevated the content in itself is now. “Directors like Joko Anwar and everyone else have really set the bar,” he said. “It’s significantly progressive.”
When it comes to what really defines the unique point of Indonesian cinema, there’s still no solid consensus as to what it is according to Sasongko. “We’re still figuring it out over here [in Indonesia],” he said. “We’re trying different things, and next year Visinema Pictures is venturing into animation as well.”
Diving into a new genre, in 2025 Visinema will be releasing “Jumbo,” an animated fairy tale starring Angga Yunanda (“Stealing Raden Saleh”, “Two Blue Stripes”, “Mariposa,”), Indonesian pop star Cinta Laura Khiel (“Oh Baby,”) and Bunga Cita Lestari (“Habibie & Ainun,” “A Note to God”) and directed by Ryan Adriandhy (“Two Language and a Sausage”).
While audiences are what makes cinema, filmmakers are not responsible for forming the audience’s perception, Sasongko said. “As an industry, we have to think about regeneration. How new talents can get involved in a more diverse and healthy environment,” recalling the lack of workers in comparison to the amount of films produced in Indonesia.
Sasongko also advocates for the freedom of expression in the film industry in Indonesia. “Without that freedom, the spark from these creative minds won’t have the space to flourish – and it’s crucial as Indonesian cinema is truly exponential,” he emphasized. “It isn’t that there are not enough talents; we need more of them but also the other people who make up the production crews and [film] business as an industry,” he said.
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