Government readies two aid schemes for film industry: Ministry

The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has readied two aid facilities to drive the productivity of Indonesian filmmakers through two stimuli in the form of PEN (National Economic Recovery) and local filmmaker in regions.

“We prepare two stimuli in 2022 for creative economy actors in the film industry,” Ministry’s Music, Film, and Animation Creative Industry Director Amin Abdullah noted.

“First, we once again propose the PEN Film that we hope can be accepted by the Finance Ministry,” he elaborated at the Pitching Forum Akatara event, as quoted on Wednesday.

For the PEN Film, he noted that the program continues the ministry’s effort in 2021 that is realized through three schemes: promotion, pre-production, and production.

The existence of the 2021 PEN Film drew positive responses wherein 50 filmmakers felt the benefit of the 2021 PEN, with the budget absorption of Rp116.8 billion.

However, the 2022 PEN Film only has one scheme, specifically the limited promotion scheme for long films, whether they are documentary or commercial fiction.

“We strive to propose Rp75 billion and this is specifically for long films, documentary with long duration, with the aim that they enter the field of cinema,” Abdullah explained.

However, filmmakers specializing in the creation of short films, both documentary and fiction, can still receive stimulus from the second form.

This second stimulus is a government aid initiated by the House of Representatives’ (DPR’s) Commission X and will be given to the short film and photography community.

“We prepare this for the absorption of regional workforce and filmmakers. This partnership is regional in nature,” he noted.

“Both of these two stimuli are important. We cannot say that we only need to pay attention to long films, because short films still require stimulus,” he affirmed.

The stimulus aid is expected to encourage more local filmmakers to produce their works after experiencing difficulties for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the start of the pandemic, Indonesia’s film industry is estimated to suffer losses to the tune of Rp481 billion per month. However, development of the digital platform has improved the condition.

Source: Antara News