BALI, THEIMAGE.ID – It is predicted that the film industry market in the future will continue to develop and has the potential to make a significant contribution to society, especially the actors involved. This was revealed, among other things, at the Bali Film Forum, Balinale which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel Sanur, Sunday, June 2 2024.
The 2024 Bali International Film Festival (Balinale) felt special with the presence of film industry players. Balinale 2024 will not only be the meeting point for east meets west, but also east meets east. In one of its programs, the Bali Film Forum (BFF), Balinale has become a forum for industry players to work together, collaborate and share photos and ensure the continued growth of the film industry.
The Bali Film Forum (BFF) took place on Sunday, June 2 2024, at the Intercontinental Hotel Sanur, moderated by Tantowi Yahya, taking place in three sessions. No less than 70 participants attended, including film industry players from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, America, England, India and Indonesia. From the three discussion sessions regarding the film industry, it was clear that the desire of industry players to ensure that Indonesia does not miss the opportunity to become a destination for the production of world-class films and make Indonesia capable of becoming a driver of the creative economy in the Asian region.
Tantowi Yahya – who has just given up his status as Indonesian ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga – begins the story of how New Zealand built the digital visual effects studio WETA Digital. The studio, which is based in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is currently trusted by major studios for digital visual effects work on Hollywood films. Weta Digital is an example of how to unite individual creative abilities into an industrial giant with world-class creative power.
M Amin Abdullah – Director of Music, Film and Animation, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy – said that the market potential continues to grow, film makers and creative workers are increasingly honing their craftsmanship – which will increase the multiplier effect.
Agus Maha Usadha, a creative economy entrepreneur who is a member of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) Bali, felt the big impact of the production of the film Eat, Pray, Love (2010).
“Fourteen years have passed, but Eat, Pray, Love is still having a positive influence on tourist destinations in Bali. “It’s a shame that the film Ticket to Paradise (2022) tells the story of Bali but takes place in a production location outside Bali,” explained Agus.
Indonesia’s creative industry must be able to expand the scale of the film industry by seizing local and global market potential. The film industry’s income will not stop at IDR 90 trillion in 2022 (Price Water House and LPEM, UI Faculty of Economics & Business). This figure is a multiplier that covers the film, music, animation and photography sectors.
Reza Servia – Producer from the Starvision production house – explained that as a film business player, he had read about the opportunity to expand the production market for his films.
“Social connections and cross culture in one production make film production acceptable to a wider market,” he explained.
OTT (Over the Top or streaming channel) is actually a form of testing the acceptance of film products in the global market. Through the films The Architecture of Love (2024) and Critical Eleven (2017), Starvision is making efforts to expand its film market.
The factors of expanding the market, maximizing resource capabilities, looking for forms of production cooperation, social relations in stories, are overall efforts to expand the market and business of the film industry.
Stanley Kwan, a veteran Hong Kong Director and Producer, has the same view. That’s why, through his latest film Fly Me to The Moon, which was the opening film of the Balinale festival, he collaborated with a young female director,
Sasha Chuk. Pairing experienced producers with young directors who have exploratory thoughts is an effort by the Hong Kong SAR government to maintain the progress of its film industry. They even disburse large funds to produce collaborative films with cutting-edge themes, humanist dramas, strong social issues, and recruit talented young actors.
Through the Asian Film Academy Awards (AFAA), Hong Kong travels around the world in collaboration with many world festivals to insert program slots for Hong Kong films. No exception, AFAA is present with six films at Balinale 2024 through its film title Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation.
Apart from M Amin Abdullah, Reza Servia, Stanley Kwan, Sasha Chuk, Agus Maha Usadha, there were other speakers such as Robert Ronny (Paragon Pictures – Indonesia), Sakti Parantean (Fremantle Indonesia), Felix Tsang (Hong Kong), Samuel Hordem (Producer , Distributor, Philanthropist – Australia).
They agreed to expand the film industry market as one of the strategies to make films have added value and extraordinary multiplier impacts.
And Balinale 2024 through the Bali Film Forum (BFF) has made a real contribution to the progress of the Indonesian film industry to become part of the global film industry.***
