French Ambassador Outlines Plan to Expand Film Collaboration With Indonesia (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran France and Indonesia are deepening their cinema ties with the launch of the France-Indonesia Film Lab at the inaugural JAFF Market, which operates alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF).

The lab, a partnership between the French Embassy, Institut Français Indonésie, the Indonesian Film Producers Association (APROFI), JAFF, and the Indonesian Ministry of Culture, aims to support emerging Indonesian filmmakers working on their first or second features by connecting them with international mentors.

The lab is envisioned as a sustainable, long-term initiative, growing in scale and influence over time. The goal is to establish the lab as an annual event, to create a permanent framework for nurturing talent and fostering co-production opportunities.

Plans for future editions include increased participation and mobility programs for selected talents to come to France and Indonesia. “We need to structure the networks, and we need to help young Indonesian filmmakers to feel more comfortable with the French market,” Fabien Penone, Ambassador of France to Indonesia, told Variety. “We will not teach them how to shoot a movie, but we could help them to know the habits, the culture, the way how the French market works.” “Indonesian cinema has long deserved greater recognition on the global stage.