Bali Is Still The Favorite Location For Filming Places For Overseas Producers And Directors

Head of the Film Licensing Task Force of the Directorate of Film, Music and Media of the Ministry of Culture Muhammad Soleh Artiawan. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Bali is still a favorite location for directors and film producers from abroad when taking pictures in Indonesian territory.

"Of the 10 most visited foreign film crews throughout January-June 2024, Bali is still a favorite, namely with 29 requests to shoot in Bali," said Head of the Film Licensing Task Force of the Directorate of Film, Music and Media of the Ministry of Culture Muhammad Soleh Artiawan in Beijing, quoted by Antara, Saturday 2 November.

Soleh conveyed this at the inauguration of the "Indonesia Movie Weekend Festival" series held by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Beijing on 1-2 November 2024 by playing four Indonesian films, namely Cadet 1947, Glenn Fredly The Movie, Easy Cuan and Tulang Belulang Tulang.

Soleh also explained how the production house for foreign films can obtain a License for the Use of Film Making Locations in Indonesia which is regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture (Permindikbud) No 48 of 2018 concerning Permits for the Use of Film Making Locations in Indonesia by Foreigners.

First, foreign film crews need to apply for permission to the Indonesian Embassy/KJRI for their domicile area to facilitate receiving a request for location permit. The application was then forwarded to the Directorate of Film and Media of the Ministry of Culture.

Then the verification team reviewed the application. The verifier team consists of representatives of ministries and institutions related to filmmaking in Indonesia.

If the application is rejected, then a reply will be given to the Indonesian Embassy/KJRI as long as it is approved by the Ministry of Culture to issue a permit for the Indonesian Embassy/KJRI to submit the approved permit to the applicant.

Applicants then look for local assistant partners to arrange visas so that foreign filmmakers have to partner with production houses in Indonesia.

Visa was then issued by the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, then the applicant and local assistant partners took care of location permits, crowd permits or other special permits if needed and filled out the filming.

"Throughout 2023, 165 film production permits were issued from 25 countries, for 1,650 crew members, to 27 destination provinces from eight film genres," said Soleh.

The shooting locations include the national nature reserve or park, urban areas, traditional villages, traditional markets, cultural heritage and other tourist objects.

Types of films also vary from television series films, feature films, TV story films, "reality shows" and "variety shows", advertisements, to documentary films. The origin of foreign production houses include the UK (38), Japan (22), Germany (17), the United States (13), the Netherlands (12) and others.

Apart from Bali, other locations that are in demand to make films are Jakarta (15 applications), East Java (12), Central Java (10), West Java (10), Yogyakarta (8), East Nusa Tenggara (8), West Nusa Tenggara (7), North Sulawesi (4), Aceh (4).

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Immigration Attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing Herawan Sukohaji said there are two types of visas that can be submitted by foreign directors and producers, namely C14 type (single visit) and type D14 (multiple visit) visas.

The conditions that must be met are valid passports for at least six months, proof of ownership of a minimum of 2,000 US dollars, passport of photos and location permits from the Ministry of Culture as previously described. For C14 visas, a fee of around 1000 RMB is required, while for D14 it is 1500 RM.

"The visa processing time is about two weeks so we recommend starting the entire licensing process at least eight weeks before filming starts," said Herawan.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Business and Financing Division of the Indonesian Film Agency Celerina Judisari said that apart from Bali, there are other locations that can be set in Indonesia.

"For example, Jakarta, Borobudur, Komodo Island and currently Indonesia also has Infinite Studio in Batam which has produced a number of foreign films," said Celerina.