Alternata Film Festival Brought InDrive To Indonesia, Presents New Concept And Targeting Local Films

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - Alternative Film Project, a global nonprofit film initiative founded by international technology company inDrive, will host a second edition of the Alternativa Film Awards which is nomad or moving around. This event aims to reward the social impact of developing industrial films, in Indonesia this event will be held at the end of November 2024.

In addition, as part of the program that will be expanded in 2024, at this moment there will also be the launch of a new festival and an award event in Indonesia, which will screen all selected films from the nominees.

Indonesia was chosen as the next country to host the Alternative Film Project after its success in its inaugural edition in 2023, which will be held in Kazakhstan, in the second edition of the upcoming project, expanding its focus on the Indonesian and Southeast Asian markets.

Ajang penghargaan ini akan dibuka pendaftarannya mulai tanggal 17 Juni 2024 dengan mengajak para sineas film dari seluruh negara Asia untuk mengirimkan karya berupa film panjang, dokumenter, animasi, dan film campuran untuk berkompetisi. Untuk kategori film pendek, akan diterima secara eksklusif dari Asia Tenggara. Kriteria pendaftaran lengkap dapat ditemukan di sini: https://filmfreeway.com/alternativa_film_awards.

The Alternative Film Project winners will be selected by the International Jury consisting of directors and producers of Asian films and other regions, as well as community leaders and representatives of NGOs. The event presents an alternative system to reward professionals who have a vision to create impacts, by making them more visible on a global scale and giving them a way to reach a wider audience.

This initiative gives awards to films with artistic advantages that also raise important social and cultural topics, and have ambitions to have a positive impact on the lives of the community and local community.

The jury will announce winners who will get prizes in the form of cash, which can be useful and used in campaigns that impact or further development of filmmaking skills. The total prizes reached 100,000 US dollars, with each winner getting 20,000 US dollars to be awarded for four long Film categories, and 10,000 US dollars each for two winners in the short film category.

The new festival accompanies all the nominations that will take place throughout the week before November 2024 and marks the evolution of the project in the Alternativa film initiative, which also includes education and outreach of assistance through Alternata Film Labs. This expansion is a natural evolution of Alternativa nomadial nature and with each of its editions, it aims to improve geographic footprint and continued real support for filmmakers.

Liza Heavennova, Project Head of Alternative Film, said the Alternata Film Awards served as a tool to support the development of the local film industry by celebrating filmmakers from underrepresented communities, which have important stories to tell and have the potential to influence the cultural and social landscape.

"Sinema is a powerful way to create change and ambition, Alternata is not only to challenge injustice in the film industry, but also to bring real progress in the world, which is why it is so important to share selected films with the public through our new Festival initiatives," said Liza, in her statement, quoted Sunday 30 June.

"When we bring Alternata to a new market every year and build on a year-on-year initiative at every location of ours, we hope this nomadent approach will allow us to engage a wider international audience. We are very proud of the success stories that emerged in our first edition, and we can't wait to develop our work throughout Indonesia and a wider region," Liza Misajarnova added.

In 2023, Alternata Film Project supports a number of filmmakers with 350 works received in 25 countries. Five of them are "Spotlight", "Future Voice", "Alter", "Nativa", and "Shorts" which are in the spotlight.

The winner of the "Nativa" award is a documentary film from Nepal by Rajan Katget and Sunir Pandey entitled "No Winter Holidays" has used its prize money to organize the distribution of the film theatrically in Nepal. Along with screening films for people in the region, they take pictures and screenings of films for younger audiences at schools and universities. The project highlights the themes such as: poverty, gender role, gap between villages and cities, cheap migration to supply economic resources, and isolation.

In addition, Alternata Film Labs organizes three training programs for filmmakers of various ages and skill levels, attended by 37 filmmakers, 12 young people, and 7 tutors from Europe and the United States. From this program, the five winners got the opportunity to take part in Pop Up's Residence in Europe from Tatino Films or participate in the EFM Toolbox program and also get travel grants from the EFM.