'SILARIANG' MOVIE REFLECTS BUGINESE ELOPEMENT VALUES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 23 (Antara) - Young lovers must fight tooth and nail and remove all kinds of barriers  if they want to maintain their love and pass the aisle into wedlock.          But what happens if the parents of the two lovers do not agree with their relations? Most commonly in South Sulawesi in the past, the young couples resorted to what is called 'Silariang', a term which in Buginese or Makassarese means elopement.          In South Sulawesi, Silariang is a big shame that tarnishes the dignity or the self-esteem of parents, particularly the parents of the girl. It often ends up in bloodshed, an occasion which based on tradition in the past, is commonly acceptable to the Buginese people in South Sulawesi.          Perhaps this value is being reflected in the 'Silaring Movie' that the film is relatively successful in netting moviegoers.          The Silariang Film --starring Jeyhan Kler as Ali, Dinda Surbakti as Cia, Nurfadillah Naifa as Ati, Ikram Noer as Rio and Husen as Mamak Ramlah--  proved its success to attract film-goers although it is only played at limited movie theaters and is starred by local film artists.

THE HARRY POTTER CRAZE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 30 (ANTARA) - The Harry Potter craze seems  to have also hit Indonesian movie fans as evident from the long queues  seen at theaters' ticket counters days before last Friday's Indonesian premiere of  "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows."     People were willing to stand in line for hours just to buy  a ticket for the show, and later could consider themselves lucky if they  has gotten one as no small number of others went home disappointed because  tickets at all theaters were sold out even  two days before Friday.          While the Harry Potter spectators' explosion could have been caused by the fact that they had long missed box office films at Indonesian movies, the high interest of moviegoers could also be related to the success of the story on the boy wizard which had raked  up a record of US$476 million in ticket sales world-wide.          The final Harry Potter film shattered box office records worldwide with a whopping US$168.6 million in US and Canadian ticket sales over the opening weekend and nearly U$476 million globally.          After stopping the screening of  box office films for a long time, the Theater 21 movie network began on Friday to entertain  audiences with  "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2."     Theater 21 Operations Director Jimmy Harianto said the Harry Potter Part 2 film was shown simultaneously at 40 Theater 21 movie houses across the country.         He hoped that the reentry into the country of foreign films would have a positive impact on the creative industry in Indonesia, particularly on the film industry  as it would provide inspirations for film stakeholders to create better products.          The high interest of Indonesian Harry Potter lovers is reflected in the sales of tickets at a number of movies in Jakarta and other cities where tickets were  already sold out even two days before the show.          Manager of Kelapa Gading XXI theater in North Jakarta, Dasuki, said that tickets for Friday's screening were sold out one day before the show so that moviegoers who wanted to watch the film had to wait for another two days.         The Kelapa Gading XXI cineplex showed Harry Potter simultaneously at its six studios. The same thing also happened with the Epicentrum, all of its theaters put Harry Potter on their screens.          Somali, manager of Epicentrum in Kuningan Central Jakarta, said his movies would screen Harry Potter for several days ahead and tickets had been sold up.         The condition also was experienced by EX XXI theater, Tickets were ordered by institutions and companies which hired one of its theaters for watching latest Harry Potter's sequel collectively.          EX XXI manager Rohadi said a number of institutions and business groups had hired one of its theaters for a joint watch of Harry Potter 2. "They have ordered it long before," he said.          In a number of theaters in Jakarta, one could see long queues of moviegoers who wanted to watch the ability of the boy wizard to vanquish the dark knight and a band of pirates. Spectators did not mind at all to stand in queue because they had been waiting for the film since long.          "There is no problem even if I have to queue and wait for hours. I am now in queue for a ticket but for watching the film tomorrow," Lia, one of the moviegoers who had snaked down before the ticket counter, said.          She said the long queue had happened because movie lovers had been longed for Hollywood films.          Operators of Theater 21 movie networks in Bandung, West Java, also put on their screens the latest sequel, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2. "Of the four studios of our BTC XXI, four showed Harry Potter," Public Relations BTC Fashion Mall R Lupiana Sekarwati said on Thursday.          Luppi said BTC XXI played Harry Potter on the screens of four of its studios to cater the explosion of spectators. "We have predicted that the audience of Harry Potter would explode so that we are preparing four studios all at once to serve our audiences," said Luppi.          She said that the film which was based on a J.K. Rowling's fiction novel was played every hour at four of BTC XXI studios. "The film screening begins at 12.00 and is played at each hour," she said.          Operator of Empire 21, one of the Theater 21's Bandung Indah Plaza (BIP) theaters, also did the same thing. "Of the six studios we have, four are playing Harry Potter, two are showing national films," Marketing Communication Manager of Bandung Indah Plaza Tubagus Feisal Yusuf said.          Tubagus said that although Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows-Part 2 began to be screened on Friday yet the spectators had hunted the tickets since Wednesday.          "We open the window for ticket sales before the film is played because on-lookers had packed the ticket window of Empire 21," said Tubagus Feisal Yusuf.          Long queues for tickets are also seen at a number of theaters in Semarang, Central Java. Movie goers who stood in queues were dominated by young spectators.          Public Relation (PR) Executive of Entertainment Plaza Semarang, Anggita Setia Dara said that on Friday the queues of ticket hunters had snaked down hours before the windows were opened at 12 a.m.          "At E Plaza Semarang theater we have four film screening schedules, namely at 1.00 p.m, 3.00 p.m, 6.00 p.m, and at 8.45 p.m so that we open the ticket counter  12.00 a.m but many come several hours earlier," she said.          She said Theater E Plaza had three studios with a total  capacity of 369 seats. Two studios are for Harry Potter and one for Blitz film.          She said that her theater prepared 1,000 tickets a day for the screening of Harry Potter and the seats were always fully booked.***5*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/15:05/a014) 30-07-2011 15:25:1

'COWBOYS IN PARADISE' SPARKS UPROAR IN "ISLAND OF GODS"

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, May 1 (ANTARA)  - "Cowboys In Paradise", a documentary film  by Singapore-domiciled ethnic Indian director Amit Virmani  depicting the life of so-called gigolos at  Bali's Kuta beach has drawn the ire of local authorities and community members in Indonesia's  most renowned tourist destination.          As a tourist resort province with local beaches, arts and dances well-known to the world, Bali has become one of the world's most attractive places for international events, holidaying and film making such as the movie "Eat, Pray and Love" by Ryan Murphy in which Hollywood movie actress  Julia Roberts starred.          With its beautiful beaches, Bali has been successful in developing its tourism industry while preserving its image as "the island of gods" , a name befitting the population's  high religiosity and spirituality.          While being an international retreat, Bali keeps on maintaining its image so that it would not be tarnished by the immorality aspect of the tourism industry where free sex behavior can thrive.   The term "3S" or "Sun, Sea, and Sex" should never take place in the island of gods.          It is in this sense that the "Cowboys In Paradise" whose plot depicts immorality by young men at Kuat beach, draws angry reactions from local authorities and community members.          Controversies over the "Cowboys In Paradise" film have heretofore come up to the surface.  No less then Bali Governor Made Pastika has expressed concern over the circulation of the film.           Pastika said the production process and plot of the film which told the life of local young surfers as gigolos at Bali's Kuta beach could tarnish the image of Bali's tourism. After all, controversies are arising about the documentary film as if it had even served as a free "advertisement" for the movie.          The public can easily obtain the movie trailer by down loading it at the "youtube.com" internet. Luckily, the full story in the film could not be down-loaded from Youtub.com.          In order to deal with the documentary film, the Indonesian police are now investigating it whether it has violated the law. The Bali police are now to summon Amit Virmani, the maker of the "Cowboys in Paradise" who resides in Singapore, with the help of Interpol.          "We are going to do so after all the witnesses we have questioned and the evidence we have collected show Amit's involvement in  punishable acts," Bali police spokesman Sr Com Gde Sugianyar Dwi Putra said on Friday.          Police have questioned six witnesses and their statements as well as the available evidence have led to the conclusion Amit have violated Indonesian laws in making the controversial documentary.          Amit can be charged with violating Law No 8/1992 on Film and be sentenced to a maximum jail term of one year and a fine of Rp40 million in lieu of an additional one year behind bars, Sugianyar said.          But as Amit is now in residing in Singapore, the  Bali police would summon him through the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police Headquarters which had a permanent link with Interpol.          Sugianyar said Amit's film which purported to depict the life of local young men as gigolos at Bali's Kuta beach had drawn angry reactions from Bali's authorities and community members as it was considered damaging the resort island's image as respectable tourist destination.          Tourism operator I Ketut Suardhana in Ubud, Gianyar district, is among the six witnesses who have been questioned by police.  According to Suardhana, he did not know if his interview with Amit was to be put in a film. The interview was about the HIV/AIDS development in Bali.         "I am disappointed with the interview because it is included in the film which has sparked uproars in Bali," Suardhana, who claimed to have served as a mere resource person on HIV/AIDS during the interview at his own home, said.          Police have questioned at least five local young men suspected to be actors of the film, namely Rosnan Efendik alias Fendi, Sugiarto alias Argo, Suwarno alias Arnold, Dennis Putra and Bima.          Based on their accounts, they were not informed if they were to play for a documentary film. Rather, they plaid for a private collection of Amit.       "I was only asked to play surfing and was paid Rp150,000. I am disappointed because I did not know if the picture was for a film. The crew who took our pictures said it was for a private collection," Dennis told police.          The local actors said they were directed by Amit Virmani who acted as director and producer of the film which was taken at Kuta beach, Bali, in mid 2007. They were told the film was for Amit's private collection.          "Amit Virmani did not tell us if the pictures were taken for a documentary film but for a private collection," Arnold, one of the actors, who plaid the gigolo character in the "Cowboys In Paradise" film, said.           Eco-tourism expert Ricky Avenzora of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture said the "Cowboy In Pradise" film was a slap not only in the face of the Bali tourism but also in the face of national tourism as a whole.          Therefore, all of the country's tourism stakeholders, he said, should be able to find strategic and tactical steps to counter the negative image created by the gigolo film, despite the fact that Indonesia's tourism could not yet be built on the basis of the country's five philosophical tenets.          "As a country which is based on the belief in God tenet, Indonesia should not allow the '3S' term to take place in its tourism industry," Avenzora said.      (T.A014/A/HAJM/17:35/a014) 01-05-2010 17: