227 Films From 43 Countries Show At JAFF 2025, Menbud: It's Time To Fix The National Film Archives

Menbud Fadli Zon opened the JAFF 2025 (Doc. Kemenbud)

YOGYAKARTA Minister of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia Fadli Zon officially opened a series of Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival or JAFF 2025 events on Saturday 29 November at the UGM Innovation and Creativity Center. In its 20th event, the largest Asian cinema festival in Indonesia aired 227 films from 43 countries during November 29, December 6, 2025.

Fadli said the theme 'Transfiguration' reflects major changes in the ecosystem of Indonesian and Asian films. Cultural work, creativity, and cinema innovation continue to evolve," he said. He considered JAFF's consistency since 2006 to be a strong proof of the cultural dialogue space built by the film community.

This year JAFF received 8894 film submissions, a signal of increasing world confidence in Indonesia's curation. Fadli also highlighted Indonesia's position as a megadiversity country with 1,340 ethnicities and 718 regional languages, making film an important tool to record collective memories and introduce national identity.

The government, said Fadli, is committed to encouraging the film industry through strengthening collaboration and utilizing cultural heritage. Throughout 2025 there were 150 film productions, 144 of which were shown in theaters, with a total of 75 million viewers and a national market share of 70 percent.

Director of JAFF, Ifa Isfansyah, emphasized the importance of film filing strategies. "Films are cultural artifacts. We want today's work to be accessible to future generations," he said. In response, Fadli emphasized that strengthening film archives was an agenda for the ministry, including restoration of old films and arrangement of archives spread across various rights owners.

The Founder Festival of Garin Nugroho added that JAFF has given birth to new experts, curators, programmers, and festival managers who are now networking with the Asian film community and the world.

The opening of JAFF was attended by a number of ambassadors, regional heads, and industry players. Fadli also again encouraged the construction of a representative national film museum so that the public could learn the history of Indonesian cinema openly.

"JAFF must continue to be the space for the culture and motor of the Asian cinema ecosystem," Fadli said closing his remarks.