Film Presentation on 'Autobiography'

Camera. Sound. Rolling. Rolling! Mark. Action! Who says I want coffee? Sit. Sit. The concept comes from something that is familiar. This is a film about a father and a son. In many authoritarian systems, the ruler is often referred to as ‘the father’. Then why does the concept of 'the father' and power beneficial to each other? This is what Autobiography adapts in talking about ‘the father’ concept. In fact, some books stated that Indonesia conforms to a system called paternalism. This is about Indonesia, a few years back. A story about the significance of the relationship in parenting. In this case, a father and a son. Coincidentally, it also talks about the relationship between civilian and military. We chose Autobiography as the title because I hope, through this film, I can portray the autobiography of a small portion of one historical transition in Indonesia. And I think this story relates to a lot of people in Indonesia. They, too, have the same experiences. We were adamant about making this project to be a project of co-production. Let's do this! You know, we must at least try. The Artistic Director of Torino Film Lab once came to Jakarta, Indonesia, to look for promising projects. The event was initiated by BEKRAF (Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy) We went there. And there were submissions for first time directors. It's safe to say that Torino Film Lab is responsible for discovering this project, and put it on the radar of other international film projects. We didn't get any funding there. But the story grows and we met new friends. So for seven months, we acquired much wisdom and knowledge from the people and professionals that work in the film industry. There are script mentors, cinematography mentors. There are also pitching mentors, sales agent mentors. After Torino Film Lab, we went to Ties That Bind. Not long after, we were selected for Locarno Open Doors. Berlinale Talents Project Market, too. Southeast Asian Fiction Lab. I think we went to almost every film lab that the world has to offer. In that sense, we were lucky enough to be selected. We also got selected in some project markets with Autobiography. We felt that we need partners to keep going. It turns out we were right. The partners that we are working with now, are the partners that we met in these project markets. This is a co-production of seven countries. We work with InVivo Films from France, Staroń Film from Poland, Cinematografica from Philippines, Pōtocol from Singapore, NiKO Film from Germany, In Indonesia, we work with FOCUSED Equipment and Partisipasi Indonesia. Finally, when we were at the editing process, we submitted the project to Doha Film Institute. We got the post-production grant, making it the seventh country to co-producing. I am Ganesya and I'm the line producer. I'm working under KawanKawan Media, alongside my partner in crime. My name is Arya Sweta, also a line producer. Our goal is to make the shooting process fun. We want to make sure all crews are happy, while cutting on expenses wisely. In early 2019, Yulia told me that we will shoot Makbul's debut. Finally! Makbul will debut. The film is Autobiography. But then the pandemic hit. There are a lot of changes, and we must adapt. New shooting rules, and new limitations too. That’s why, if I’m not mistaken, the production has been postponed three times. Initially, we decided to shoot in May 2020. But then we postponed to November. Then I lost track. Finally, we decided that we must shoot in May 2021, no matter what happened. Because this is a co-production of seven countries, there are crews that don’t speak our languages. That’s why we must make some adjustments on the workflow. Although there isn't much to adjust. We were strict on our shooting hours, 12 hours tops. This includes travel time. The clock starts as we set foot from our hotel and back. We did four to six scenes in a day, that’s why we need more shooting days. We discussed this with our second assistant director, Kawakibi. We’ve come to the conclusion that we need 34 shooting days. We were adamant about making the shooting process fun and stress-free. So that we will all be proud of the final product. This isn’t only about finishing a film, but to also build memorable and meaningful relationships. From the beginning, we were talking with Makbul to use anamorphic lenses. Because we felt that the distortion of anamorphic lenses – this is not a perfect picture. And I would like to work with old lenses because they have more errors. I like the errors sometimes, you know, errors give us a more real representation of the feelings of Rakib. The presence of green is very strong here in this region. But also, the presence of red is very strong. And I believe the colors have an independent life and independent relationships between them. Generally, we divide the film into two parts: the green part and the red part. But of course, there are some interaction inside each part where the green and red are meeting each other. In this context, I got the main color palette from the Director of Photography. I tried to visualize the DP's vision through design, and to set the right mood. Indonesia is lush – there are a lot of greens. From there, I try to adapt these existing colors into products that will appear in the film. But later, we also decided that the color palette must appear paler and harsher so it blends into the story. I play a lot with textures, too. From still to wavy. One of the visual elements that I enjoy playing with is something that seems harsh and rigid. What comes to mind when we think of someone who is a narcissist? Of course, we see a lot of Purna’s pictures. And then I try to visualize this distorted point of view through mirrors. When we talk about design, we can’t separate the design from the characters. We are also talking about locations. In this film, there are a lot of existing locations, like landscapes. There are 18 different locations in total. But 70% of them are existing locations. Ramjaneo Chery Pasopati - Artistic Director We started working since pre-production. We did an 8-day consecutive meeting to do a script breakdown from the first scene. L.H. Aim Adi Negara - Sound Designer. We did a sound breakdown in each scene; what kind of sound elements that we want to design? Which elements could be recorded on set? And which couldn't? And finally how to put these ideas together. There are more or less 433 sound lists that I've recorded, be it the sound on set or pre-recorded. We design and make most of the costumes from scratch. First we decide on the color palette, then we design the patterns. Especially the army uniforms, it's all handmade. In designing the uniform, I was heavily inspired by the shape of ginger. I found this old ginger in my kitchen, therefore I was inspired. In terms of the color palette, we discussed this together. I am very grateful to be coached by late Gunawan Maryanto. I can't even explain how lucky I am, to be able to meet and be coached by him. I knew him only through his films, but here I was given the chance to meet and know him in person. It's one of the things I'm most grateful for until now. Gunawan Maryanto - Actor, Acting Coach (1976-2021) The coaching process is interesting. What most intrigues me is the method. We learn acting through small excercises, vocal warm-ups. And I had to change my vocal characters, because my vocal cords were damaged. Isn't this swell? How Rakib observes his surroundings are interesting to me, from what I read in Makbul's script. Rakib is a smart kid, even though he didn't go to school. A street-smart. Probably because he has a tough life. He learns to survive alone and is able to deal with Purna. He can deal with his peers and the villagers, who thinks of him lowly. But he keeps on learning, and observing. Until finally Purna comes home. Amir's son? Yes, sir. I keep on imagining back and forth, what kind of person Purna is. I imagine Purna is a general who doesn't do well in terms of his position in the army. But he is a good soldier. Administration-wise, he doesn't get what he wanted. He wants to get an important position in the government. And then maybe he becomes obsessed. He couldn't get what he wants in the government, so he tries to run a campaign in his hometown. Do you support? Yes! Louder! Coincidentally, I was obsessed with Purna. Purna has become my obsession. I happen to be trusted to play Amir, a normal villager who got entangled in a big problem. His grandfather works for Purna's grandfather, his father works for Purna's father, he works for Purna. Finally in this story, Amir's son will work for Purna's family too. It's actually about the relationship between a servant and the employer. But Purna and Amir have this special relationship, since they grew up together. They also have some kind of friendship. Agus is a son from a mother who works as a farmer. He lives with his step-father. After school, Agus works part-time as a mechanic. So I think - why this character has my interest, because he has this burden. A heavy one, I suppose. I can understand Agus, where he gets this passion to resist. It's because his has this boulder of a burden ever since he's a child. Don't you want to meet your brother? A family reunion? Didn't he tell you how much he gets paid? He's like an informal leader. A non-official leader. He has an influence in the village. He also takes part in nurturing the informal economy indirectly. He's an employment agent, who sends workers from Indonesia abroad to work. But we don't know if he sends these workers legally or not. He's also a part of a generation or people, whose thinking and way of life are considered expired by the main character in this film. If you said that he's your son or grandson, everybody will believe you, sir. My character is a policeman. His name is Soewito. A police chief. He's a policeman who has a history with Purna. That's Soewito for short. The relationship between him and Purna, maybe, like a father and son or a disciple and a master. This is their relationship background. When I wrote this script, I think the most important thing is the relationship between characters. The characters aren’t unique. They don't have special quirks. They aren't weirdos, just ordinary people. But what’s unique is maybe how they observe each other. That way we can see the context of order, which happened in Indonesia, through the characters’ point of views. How Rakib observes Purna, and the other way around. And then we have Soewito. How Purna observes Soewito, and the other way around. We use this multiple point of views to visualize the context of order and power in this film. You look exactly like me when I was young. Kib, be careful who you trust. In Autobiography, Rakib sees his father as an absent father. His father isn't ideal for him. He then seeks another father figure, from someone he deems more worthy. I was raised by a single parent too. My mother raised me. I live with my mother, so I kind of relate to Rakib. I don’t live with my father anymore since I was still at school. I don’t have this exemplary figure of a father, so of course I look for one myself. This journey, the journey of becoming more human which I see kind of resembles me. Because by all honesty, me as Kevin, I don’t have that father figure too. Indonesia closed its border, again. Carlo, our editor, couldn’t enter. We must think of new ways how to make this work. We avoided discussing the editing process online. We did the editing offline before. We were happy with our method, and we can work faster too. So then I decided, I got information from friends, which countries are open? Voila, Istanbul. Finally, we finished our editing in Istanbul. The camera is going down. I think even before knowing Autobiography – because it started with a different story and then it has evolved eventually to what it is right now. The whole process of editing was making sure to build up the suspense but not much in a sense where you have to be very frantic in terms of cutting back and forth. And more importantly, since the film only has a few characters, we were very specific to guide the actors in terms of how we want it to be presented over the visuals. Because one mistake could actually lead to not you believe what will happen. So it was much more of like balancing the pace, the tension, and the performance for us to create this realm of what Autobiography is right now. Welcome. I forgot to turn off the heater. We also work with Waldier Xavier, he’s from Brazil. He’s the sound editor in Autobiography. We talk a lot about sound elements. Which elements we want to put in every shot. This creative process with Makbul is very intense. Makbul provides me with informations about sound and on-set condition in Indonesia. We translate this information into creative techniques in the film, together. We then continue to try defining the editing language, choosing, making concepts, and finally we managed to define the sound that we'd like to put together. I think, everyone who are involved in this film, make our dreams come true. This is the film that I and Makbul wanted to make. We initiated this film with no expectations; we simply wanted to make film. Yet we end up at Venice Film Festival, of course, we’re beyond grateful. In front of 1400 audiences, I think, one of the largest studio. Standing ovation. For a few minutes. I didn’t know that foreigners clap that long. I felt kind of awkward. Why are they still clapping? We stayed a couple of days in Venice. We encountered the actors’ fans on the street. Like, hey! Are you the actor of Autobiography? I like your film! They asked for autographs or invited them for meals or drinks. We are very happy because we felt welcomed. And when we were told that we got FIPRESCI Award; the award that was given by film critiques. I’m at lost for words. I’m just very proud. After Venice, we continued to Toronto and then Busan, Hamburg. As for now, we have 20 film festivals in our repertoire for Autobiography, at least until early 2023. The response from the audience so far has been pleasant. Especially for me, as a first-time director. Even the response itself makes me happy, what makes me happier is the film is well-received. We would like to thank you all for coming. Thank you very much. If you find a new director with great film, it’s Autobiography. Yes, the film has travelled around the world. It’s screened outside of Indonesia. It’s well-received. But I’m sure there are layers, easter eggs, that can only be understood by Indonesians. For instance, foreigners can understand one or two layers. But if Indonesians watch this, they could get more layers. The contents, the nutritional value of the film is more friendly for Indonesians. Autobiography premiered in Venice Film Festival. Now, Autobiography has been screened in 21 countries, 5 continents. It has received 36 nominations and won 18 awards. Autobiography is now in the Indonesian cinema from January 19th, 2023.

Camera. Sound. Rolling. Rolling! Mark. Action! Who says I want coffee? Sit. Sit. The concept comes from something that is familiar. This is a film about a father and a son. In many authoritarian systems, the ruler is often referred to as ‘the father’. Then why does the concept of &#39;the father&#39; and power beneficial to each other? This is what Autobiography adapts in talking about ‘the father’ concept. In fact, some books stated that Indonesia conforms to a system called paternalism. This is about Indonesia, a few years back. A story about the significance of the relationship in parenting. In this case, a father and a son. Coincidentally, it also talks about the relationship between civilian and military. We chose Autobiography as the title because I hope, through this film, I can portray the autobiography of a small portion of one historical transition in Indonesia. And I think this story relates to a lot of people in Indonesia.  They, too, have the same experiences. We were adamant about making this project to be a project of co-production. Let&#39;s do this! You know, we must at least try. The Artistic Director of Torino Film Lab once came to Jakarta, Indonesia, to look for promising projects. The event was initiated by BEKRAF (Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy) We went there. And there were submissions for first time directors. It&#39;s safe to say that Torino Film Lab is responsible for discovering this project, and put it on the radar of other international film projects. We didn&#39;t get any funding there. But the story grows and we met new friends. So for seven months, we acquired much wisdom and knowledge from the people and professionals that work in the film industry.  There are script mentors, cinematography mentors. There are also pitching mentors, sales agent mentors. After Torino Film Lab, we went to Ties That Bind. Not long after, we were selected for Locarno Open Doors. Berlinale Talents Project Market, too. Southeast Asian Fiction Lab. I think we went to almost every film lab that the world has to offer. In that sense, we were lucky enough to be selected. We also got selected in some project markets with Autobiography. We felt that we need partners to keep going. It turns out we were right. The partners that we are working with now, are the partners that we met in these project markets. This is a co-production of seven countries. We work with InVivo Films from France, Staroń Film from Poland, Cinematografica from Philippines, Pōtocol from Singapore, NiKO Film from Germany, In Indonesia, we work with FOCUSED Equipment and Partisipasi Indonesia. Finally, when we were at the editing process, we submitted the project to Doha Film Institute. We got the post-production grant, making it the seventh country to co-producing. I am Ganesya and I&#39;m the line producer. I&#39;m working under KawanKawan Media, alongside my partner in crime. My name is Arya Sweta, also a line producer. Our goal is to make the shooting process fun. We want to make sure all crews are happy, while cutting on expenses wisely. In early 2019, Yulia told me that we will shoot Makbul&#39;s debut. Finally! Makbul will debut. The film is Autobiography. But then the pandemic hit. There are a lot of changes, and we must adapt. New shooting rules, and new limitations too. That’s why, if I’m not mistaken, the production has been postponed three times. Initially, we decided to shoot in May 2020. But then we postponed to November. Then I lost track. Finally, we decided that we must shoot in May 2021, no matter what happened. Because this is a co-production of seven countries, there are crews that don’t speak our languages. That’s why we must make some adjustments on the workflow. Although there isn&#39;t much to adjust. We were strict on our shooting hours, 12 hours tops. This includes travel time. The clock starts as we set foot from our hotel and back. We did four to six scenes in a day, that’s why we need more shooting days. We discussed this with our second assistant director, Kawakibi. We’ve come to the conclusion that we need 34 shooting days. We were adamant about making the shooting process fun and stress-free. So that we will all be proud of the final product. This isn’t only about finishing a film, but to also build memorable and meaningful relationships. From the beginning, we were talking with Makbul to use anamorphic lenses. Because we felt that the distortion of anamorphic lenses – this is not a perfect picture. And I would like to work with old lenses because they have more errors. I like the errors sometimes, you know, errors give us a more real representation of the feelings of Rakib. The presence of green is very strong here in this region. But also, the presence of red is very strong. And I believe the colors have an independent life and independent relationships between them. Generally, we divide the film into two parts: the green part and the red part. But of course, there are some interaction inside each part where the green and red are meeting each other. In this context, I got the main color palette from the Director of Photography. I tried to visualize the DP&#39;s vision through design, and to set the right mood. Indonesia is lush – there are a lot of greens. From there, I try to adapt these existing colors into products that will appear in the film. But later, we also decided that the color palette must appear paler and harsher so it blends into the story. I play a lot with textures, too. From still to wavy. One of the visual elements that I enjoy playing with is something that seems harsh and rigid. What comes to mind when we think of someone who is a narcissist? Of course, we see a lot of Purna’s pictures. And then I try to visualize this distorted point of view through mirrors. When we talk about design, we can’t separate the design from the characters. We are also talking about locations. In this film, there are a lot of existing locations, like landscapes. There are 18 different locations in total. But 70% of them are existing locations. Ramjaneo Chery Pasopati - Artistic Director We started working since pre-production. We did an 8-day consecutive meeting to do a script breakdown from the first scene. L.H. Aim Adi Negara - Sound Designer. We did a sound breakdown in each scene; what kind of sound elements that we want to design? Which elements could be recorded on set? And which couldn&#39;t? And finally how to put these ideas together. There are more or less 433 sound lists that I&#39;ve recorded, be it the sound on set or pre-recorded. We design and make most of the costumes from scratch. First we decide on the color palette, then we design the patterns. Especially the army uniforms, it&#39;s all handmade. In designing the uniform, I was heavily inspired by the shape of ginger. I found this old ginger in my kitchen, therefore I was inspired. In terms of the color palette, we discussed this together. I am very grateful to be coached by late Gunawan Maryanto. I can&#39;t even explain how lucky I am, to be able to meet and be coached by him. I knew him only through his films, but here I was given the chance to meet and know him in person. It&#39;s one of the things I&#39;m most grateful for until now. Gunawan Maryanto - Actor, Acting Coach (1976-2021) The coaching process is interesting. What most intrigues me is the method. We learn acting through small excercises, vocal warm-ups. And I had to change my vocal characters, because my vocal cords were damaged. Isn&#39;t this swell? How Rakib observes his surroundings are interesting to me, from what I read in Makbul&#39;s script. Rakib is a smart kid, even though he didn&#39;t go to school. A street-smart. Probably because he has a tough life. He learns to survive alone and is able to deal with Purna. He can deal with his peers and the villagers, who thinks of him lowly. But he keeps on learning, and observing. Until finally Purna comes home. Amir&#39;s son? Yes, sir. I keep on imagining back and forth, what kind of person Purna is. I imagine Purna is a general who doesn&#39;t do well in terms of his position in the army. But he is a good soldier. Administration-wise, he doesn&#39;t get what he wanted. He wants to get an important position in the government. And then maybe he becomes obsessed. He couldn&#39;t get what he wants in the government, so he tries to run a campaign in his hometown. Do you support? Yes! Louder! Coincidentally, I was obsessed with Purna. Purna has become my obsession. I happen to be trusted to play Amir, a normal villager who got entangled in a big problem. His grandfather works for Purna&#39;s grandfather, his father works for Purna&#39;s father, he works for Purna. Finally in this story, Amir&#39;s son will work for Purna&#39;s family too. It&#39;s actually about the relationship between a servant and the employer. But Purna and Amir have this special relationship, since they grew up together. They also have some kind of friendship. Agus is a son from a mother who works as a farmer. He lives with his step-father. After school, Agus works part-time as a mechanic. So I think - why this character has my interest, because he has this burden. A heavy one, I suppose. I can understand Agus, where he gets this passion to resist. It&#39;s because his has this boulder of a burden ever since he&#39;s a child. Don&#39;t you want to meet your brother? A family reunion? Didn&#39;t he tell you how much he gets paid? He&#39;s like an informal leader. A non-official leader. He has an influence in the village. He also takes part in nurturing the informal economy indirectly. He&#39;s an employment agent, who sends workers from Indonesia abroad to work. But we don&#39;t know if he sends these workers legally or not. He&#39;s also a part of a generation or people, whose thinking and way of life are considered expired by the main character in this film. If you said that he&#39;s your son or grandson, everybody will believe you, sir. My character is a policeman. His name is Soewito. A police chief. He&#39;s a policeman who has a history with Purna. That&#39;s Soewito for short. The relationship between him and Purna, maybe, like a father and son or a disciple and a master. This is their relationship background. When I wrote this script, I think the most important thing is the relationship between characters. The characters aren’t unique. They don&#39;t have special quirks. They aren&#39;t weirdos, just ordinary people. But what’s unique is maybe how they observe each other. That way we can see the context of order, which happened in Indonesia, through the characters’ point of views. How Rakib observes Purna, and the other way around. And then we have Soewito. How Purna observes Soewito, and the other way around. We use this multiple point of views to visualize the context of order and power in this film. You look exactly like me when I was young. Kib, be careful who you trust. In Autobiography, Rakib sees his father as an absent father. His father isn&#39;t ideal for him. He then seeks another father figure, from someone he deems more worthy. I was raised by a single parent too. My mother raised me. I live with my mother, so I kind of relate to Rakib. I don’t live with my father anymore since I was still at school. I don’t have this exemplary figure of a father, so of course I look for one myself. This journey, the journey of becoming more human which I see kind of resembles me. Because by all honesty, me as Kevin, I don’t have that father figure too. Indonesia closed its border, again. Carlo, our editor, couldn’t enter. We must think of new ways how to make this work. We avoided discussing the editing process online. We did the editing offline before. We were happy with our method, and we can work faster too. So then I decided, I got information from friends, which countries are open? Voila, Istanbul. Finally, we finished our editing in Istanbul. The camera is going down. I think even before knowing Autobiography – because it started with a different story and then it has evolved eventually to what it is right now. The whole process of editing was making sure to build up the suspense but not much in a sense where you have to be very frantic in terms of cutting back and forth. And more importantly,
since the film only has a few characters, we were very specific to guide the actors in terms of
how we want it to be presented over the visuals. Because one mistake could actually lead to not you believe what will happen.
So it was much more of like balancing the pace, the tension, and the performance for us to create this realm of what Autobiography is right now. Welcome. I forgot to turn off the heater. We also work with Waldier Xavier, he’s from Brazil. He’s the sound editor in Autobiography. We talk a lot about sound elements. Which elements we want to put in every shot. This creative process with Makbul is very intense. Makbul provides me with informations about sound and on-set condition in Indonesia. We translate this information into creative techniques in the film, together. We then continue to try defining the editing language, choosing, making concepts, and finally we managed to define the sound that we&#39;d like to put together. I think, everyone who are involved in this film, make our dreams come true. This is the film that I and Makbul wanted to make. We initiated this film with no expectations; we simply wanted to make film. Yet we end up at Venice Film Festival, of course, we’re beyond grateful. In front of 1400 audiences, I think, one of the largest studio. Standing ovation.
For a few minutes. I didn’t know that foreigners clap that long.  I felt kind of awkward. Why are they still clapping? We stayed a couple of days in Venice. We encountered the actors’ fans on the street. Like, hey! Are you the actor of Autobiography? I like your film! They asked for autographs or invited them for meals or drinks. We are very happy because we felt welcomed. And when we were told that we got FIPRESCI Award; the award that was given by film critiques. I’m at lost for words. I’m just very proud. After Venice, we continued to Toronto and then Busan, Hamburg. As for now, we have 20 film festivals in our repertoire for Autobiography, at least until early 2023. The response from the audience so far has been pleasant. Especially for me, as a first-time director. Even the response itself makes me happy, what makes me happier is the film is well-received. We would like to thank you all for coming. Thank you very much. If you find a new director with great film, it’s Autobiography. Yes, the film has travelled around the world. It’s screened outside of Indonesia. It’s well-received. But I’m sure there are layers, easter eggs, that can only be understood by Indonesians. For instance, foreigners can understand one or two layers. But if Indonesians watch this, they could get more layers. The contents,
the nutritional value of the film is more friendly for Indonesians. Autobiography premiered in Venice Film Festival. Now, Autobiography has been screened in 21 countries, 5 continents. It has received 36 nominations and won 18 awards. Autobiography is now in the Indonesian cinema from January 19th, 2023.

Transcript for:Film Presentation on 'Autobiography'

Transcript for:
Film Presentation on 'Autobiography'