Ministry highlights two aspects need to be considered in film industry

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry, during the 2023 National Film Day conference here, Monday, outlined the two aspects of education management and film distribution that should be considered in the national film industry.Several aspects regarding the management of national film education, especially about the availability and quality of human resources, should be fixed.

While it is not lacking in terms of quantity, there has not been any scheme in the form of curriculum that can connect the availability of human resources with the film industry.

“We feel that this has not been frequently discussed since vocation-related film institutions have not taken any actions,” Film, Music, and New Media Director at the Ministry Ahmad Mahendra remarked.

“This should be thought about together, as we cannot let film school graduates become unemployed because they are not ready to face the industry,” he stated.

Meanwhile, he highlighted the life cycle of films that are usually circulated from cinemas before transitioning to over-the-top (OTT) media service.

In connection with this, the government has opened a large space for collaboration between OTT and Indonesian film players, he remarked.

“The pattern thus has only been from cinemas to OTT. Thus, we strengthen the distribution of film to the community to extend the life cycle of a film,” he stated.

In addressing this problem, the state collaborates with various parties, including the National Film Agency (BPI), to support various aspects, such as community empowerment, festival, and distribution.

“Cooperation with BPI became important since they have association, data, and others. We talk with each other, and all guidelines from this ecosystem already exist,” he noted.

“All we have to do is update them continuously and develop them all,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of BPI Gunawan Paggaru explained that Indonesia has 21 film universities and 64 film vocational schools and produces more than one thousand human resources every year.

Moreover, three universities have festival management as their course subject.

He underlined the importance of having education institutions that focus on film production as well as festival management as the course subject since their graduates would be the ones selling and distributing films.

“The demand of the industry continues to grow. Thus, the education world must be there to support it. We think that the basis for film development is human resources’ power,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News Agency