Film TALA: When Love Calls From The Bottom Of Borneo It Is Expected To Become A Rainbow Laskar Version Of Tanah Laut Regency

Regent HM Sukamta with director and actor TALA: When Love Calls From The Bottom of Borneo (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - The latest film by director Joko Nugroho, TALA: When Love Calls From The Bottom of Borneo is planned to be ready to air this August. The Regent of Tanah Laut (Tala), HM Sukamta hopes that this film can advance the tourism of the district he leads, as well as become pride for the people there.

Not without reason Sukamta chose the film media to advance its territory. Reflecting on the film Laskar Pelangi (2008) which introduced Belitung Island, Sukamta believes that the film TALA can be the pride of its people.

"I have confidence that this film will make people go to Tanah Laut, just like people to Belitung after seeing Laskar Pelangi. I believe in Tanah Laut because our potential is greater than Belitung," said HM Sukamta when met in Palmerah, West Jakarta last week.

However, this does not mean that this film is specially worked on to promote tourist sites. Sukamta assessed that the story of the film TALA will be the focus. He also wants films that describe the area he leads to have good quality.

What we put forward is not our tourism potential, but the story. If I put forward the potential, it will be like an advertisement, people won't watch it. I want people to enjoy the story, but later people can see how Tanah Laut is," said Sukamta.

This film is also expected to educate the people of Tanah Laut who are called Sukamta as religious people. He wants his citizens to be prepared if Tanah Laut becomes one of the seeds of national tourism in the future.

"Our area is a religious area, while tourism is always faced with religion, as if tourism is against religion. So, from this film we want to show that tourism can provide great benefits and is not against religion," he said.

Meanwhile, Marcel Chandrawinata, who played in this film, also praised Sukamta's idea to promote tourism potential with film media. He assessed that films have their own advantage in describing an area.

"Honestly, Pak Sukamta's idea is extraordinary, from all his ideas, this is the most out of the box, because not everyone has ever done something like this," said Marcel Chandrawinata.

He chose a media film that can be watched at any time, by anyone and can be watched over and over again. In the future, even though we already understand about Tanah Laut, if we want to return to see what Tanah Laut used to be like, we can see this film. So this is a good way to promote tourism in an area," he continued.

Furthermore, director Joko Nugroho said the Tanah Laut Regency Government gave it the freedom to produce this film, including in the selection of actors and actresses who starred in this film.

Therefore, Joko only needs three days to complete the film scenario. Unlike usual, it takes up to three months.

"We can face various challenges while producing films easily because the Tanah Laut Regency Government and the community support the production process," he said.

Joko also appreciated Sukamta for wanting more local actors and actresses to be involved in the film. He also encouraged directors to use regional actors or actresses if they wanted to produce films set in the regions. In addition to producing quality films, the director is also obliged to develop actors and actresses in the regions.

"Sutradara and film people can also contribute to building the area in their own way. One of them, by making regional films," said Joko.

For information, TALA: When Love Calls From The Bottom of Borneo stars Marcel Chandrawinata, Amaraima, and Putri Wisata Indonesia 2022 Bella Devita. This film is planned to be released in August 2023.