From August to November 2016, across 14 cities and 17 screenings, the ReelOzInd! Short Film Festival connected Australians and Indonesians through short film.
Born out of the ReelOzInd! Short Film Competition, which ran from April to July 2016 and received hundreds of submissions, the Film Festival shared snapshots of life across both countries through a series of screenings in Surabaya, Jakarta, Malang, Jember, Bali, Probolinggo, Bandung and Tangerang in Indonesia and Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin and Adelaide in Australia.
Over one thousand filmgoers attended the screenings, and almost five thousand have engaged with the films online, hosted at reelozind.com.
Producer of Best Documentary-winner The Eagles’ Eyes, Stephanie Pascalita said, “ReelOzInd has given us a tremendous experience, which is to see our work getting screened in so many places in Indonesia and also abroad, Australia. Our greatest excitement is the fact that The Eagles’ Eyes reaches broad numbers of audience through ReelOzInd! tour. It encourages us to speak up louder with our film. We doubted before, but we have seen that it is possible. We wish such opportunity will come again for our next projects and to even broader scope!”
Winner of Best Animation for Dog and Robot, Blair Harris, said, “It was my first time attending a festival as an entrant and it’s been a truly great experience. I live in Melbourne so was able to get down to the ACMI opening night screening. Seeing all the great work from other Indonesian and collaboration entries, then seeing my film Dog and Robot up on the big screen at ACMI, was amazing. I even got to speak on a panel with the producer of the first Matrix – one of my favourite films. So a big thanks to the Australia-Indonesia Centre for supporting it.”
Filmmaker Alan King, shortlisted for his film The Correspondent, said, “ReelOzInd! is such a unique and worthwhile initiative in Australia. I was proud to be a part of it!”
The festival was supported by a broad range of partners at theatres, film festivals, universities and film institutes, including the Darwin International Film Festival, ACMI, National Film & Sound Archive, and Bali’s Minikino festival as well as Queensland University of Technology, Universitas Kristen Petra, Universitas Jember, Universitas Brawijaya, and Universitas Padjadjaran.
Aquarini Priyatna, Head of Cultural Studies at UnPad said, “We are honoured to have the opportunity to be the host of this very prestigious event. We are looking forward to more collaboration in the future both with our department in particular, and our faculty in general. This has indeed been a very interesting and beneficial activity on both parts. We are hoping that by hosting this event we have also contributed to the better relationship and friendship between Australia and Indonesia.”
Ina Riyanto, Head of Film and Television at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara, said, “In my opinion, the selected films really reflect the uniqueness of Australian and Indonesian culture and the relationship between the two countries that not many people know that. I enjoyed the beautiful view of Australian landscape in Kane, the friendship expressed in Behind the Mask, the daily problems in The Crowded Bridge. I agree with you that knowing each other culture will increase understanding among people in both countries. Therefore, ReelOzInd! plays a strategic role in growing the understanding among the young generation, yet future leaders of both countries.”
Dr Gaston Soehadi, film scholar and ReelOzInd! East Java Coordinator, said, “Although ReelOzInd is still new, beginning this year, it has shown its promises and potentiality for the future. Through the films that are screened and the discussions with the filmmakers, experts and judges, the Indonesian audience has not only learnt more about short film as a powerful medium of expression, but also about Australia as their neighbour. I definitely expect that ReelOzInd would be back again here in Indonesia, in 2017 and the years after, where we hope to see more Australian short films being nominated as best films or special mentions, so that the audience in Indonesia can learn more things about Australia.”
The winners have been awarded and screenings have concluded for ReelOzInd! in 2016, but stay tuned for the announcement of the online-voted People’s Choice Award. To learn more about the initiative and watch all the films, visit www.reelozind.com.
