President Joko Widodo's Commitment To Save Indonesian Film Industry From The COVID-19 Pandemic

Indonesian Films Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo welcomed the request of the film industry players to save the Indonesian film industry from upstream to downstream which was heavily affected by the pandemic that has been going on for one year, which caused some of them to collapse and the rest would soon follow if not get help immediately.

Film industry players consisting of film producers, directors, actors, cinema owners, and management of associations as well as the Indonesian Film Agency submitted 5 requests to the government, namely: Stimulus for film distribution through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) fund with a transparent mechanism, the campaign "Return to the Cinema" coordinates with the Ministry of Health and the COVID-19 Task Force to eliminate the negative stigma of watching cinemas during a pandemic, reducing entertainment tax on the Indonesian film business, taking quick, concrete and decisive steps to eradicate film piracy, and accelerating vaccinations for workers. the film industry.

President Joko Widodo asked for concrete steps to map the stimulus and design its distribution that could be accounted for. The President stated that he would immediately coordinate with relevant ministries to compile a stimulus package while continuing to communicate with industry players in line with efforts to contain COVID-19, vaccination and national economic recovery.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno who was also present at the occasion said that his ministry would carry out CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety and Environmental sustainability (CHSE) certification for cinemas like those. done in other tourism sectors to convince the audience.

The Central Government will also coordinate with the Regional Government to start opening cinemas in the yellow zone that have not yet been opened.

To deal with piracy, President Joko Widodo will soon create a work unit that is a combination of the Indonesian National Police, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

For vaccination, Minister Sandiaga Uno is being carried out data collection until March 14, 2021, in coordination with the Indonesian Pefilman Agency (BPI) and vaccination can start from early April 2021.

"All film workers are grateful for the quick response from the President, Menparekraf, and the ranks of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet. Hopefully, every concrete step of coordination between the central government, regional governments, and industry players will return Indonesian films to their glory in theaters and occupy the hearts of their beloved viewers. Indonesia is our service to the country and we are ready to cooperate and prepare concrete steps and a mature strategy with the government", said Chand Parwez as chairman of the Indonesian Film Agency.

The Indonesian film industry before the pandemic was ranked in the top ten in the world as the world's largest film market with a value of USD 500 million at the end of 2019, suffering a 97 percent decline during the pandemic throughout 2020.

The Impact of the Pandemic on Indonesian Films

The impact of the pandemic on film workers is also enormous. In 2019 there were 129 national film titles released in theaters with a total national film audience of 52 million people. This means that one film title is watched by approximately 400 thousand viewers. Compared to the conditions during the Pandemic data as of the end of February 2021 showed that there were 9 national film titles released in theaters with a total audience of only around 400 thousand people.

The loss of tax revenue from cinema viewers alone reached 1.5 trillion and cinema indirect revenue was 1.2 trillion. Even the existence of a streaming distribution platform has not been able to sustain the industry and the value of film purchases has not been able to cover production costs, especially for films with a large budget.

"Film is not only an entertainment commodity but also brings the face of Indonesia to the international world. Potentially, the Indonesian film industry with its cultural diversity and population as the main market is very large and therefore very worthy of being saved", said Shanty Harmayn, Indonesian film producer.

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