Jakarta World Cinema Plans to Revive First Feature Competition With International Jury

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Jakarta World Cinema aims to bring back its First Feature Competition next year, open to filmmakers from around the world and judged by an international jury.

This year’s edition did not accept submissions. The competition was put on hold because of the difficulty of assembling an international jury.

“[Previously] we’ve only had Indonesian judges,” festival director Shandy Gasella tells Variety.

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Next year, the team wants to bring in international jury members with strong filmographies, so the category can open to submissions from filmmakers worldwide.

The festival sits between October’s Jakarta Film Week and the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival at the end of November. Its lineup is made up of “80-90% award-winning films from Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Sundance,” according to Frederica, executive director of Jakarta World Cinema and director of KlikFilm, who oversees acquisitions.

“We travel to [different] film markets, Berlin, Toronto, Cannes, etc.,” says Frederica, adding that the festival aims to bring the year’s most important art films to local audiences.

This year’s edition has 102 theatrical titles, the most in the festival’s history, out of a total program of 207. Programming director Daniel Irawan says the goal for next year is to expand the lineup and keep working with its main venue, CGV Grand Indonesia, to increase audience capacity.

Jakarta World Cinema also runs a short film competition, which took place in June and drew more than 300 entries from professionals, amateurs and students. All 30 competition titles and 20 non-competition titles on the shortlist will screen during the festival. The best short film and audience choice award winners will be announced on closing day, with the best short film winner receiving full funding from KlikFilm for the production and distribution of a debut feature.

The festival is backed by Dana Indonesiaraya, a matching fund shared by the government and the film industry, according to Indonesian Culture Minister Fadli Zon. After the Jakarta edition closes on Nov. 7, the same program will travel to Bandung World Cinema and Malang World Cinema, two local extensions running Nov. 14–21.