How do we help a global audience discover Indonesian Films?

Aldi Haryopratomo

Dec 24, 2023 — 2 min read

Looking at the multiple camera angles in a set is hard

On Monday a friend who lives in Singapore asked me, “what other Indonesian movies should I watch? I watched gadis kretek and liked it, but I couldn’t find much information on other movies.

When I asked my wife to accompany me to watch Jatuh Cinta seperti di Film - Film, she also said she never heard of it. At a family gathering not long after, our brothers and sisters said they had never heard of this also.

The budget for Indonesian movies can be one hundred times smaller than the Holywood or Korean counterparts. Thus the lower marketing budget, which is usually a percentage of production value.

Indonesian movies are now more accesible globally through Netflix and Prime Video. But Chinese or Korean films, my friend was right, I was scrolling through IMDB and found that few reviews of Indonesian movies were in English.

I have been an active reviewer of restaurants on Google Maps to the point that I got to a level 7 reviewer, which translates to about two million views. So I thought I’d start jotting down my thoughts on the notable movies I watched so far, especially those that have a chance to resonate with a global audience.

And now that I joined the entertainment industry, posting seemed appropriate.

Here’s the first two that I watched this week. Links to the reviews below.

Romantic Dramas Falling in Love Like in the Movies (Jatuh Cinta Seperti Di Film-Film)
13 Bom in Jakarta, Indonesia’s first crack at a die hard-like action

(Indonesian translation is below)

Bagaimana cara membantu teman-teman di luar negeri menemukan film Indonesia?

Senin lalu, seorang teman di Singapura bertanya, “Film Indonesia apa lagi yang harus saya tonton? Saya sudah menonton ‘Gadis Kretek’ dan suka, tapi saya kesulitan menemukan informasi tentang film Indonesia lainnya.”

Lucunya, saat saya mengajak istri saya menonton ‘Jatuh Cinta seperti di Film - Film’, dia juga mengatakan belum pernah mendengar tentang film itu. Begitu pula dengan saudara-saudara kami di sebuah pertemuan keluarga baru-baru ini.

Saya menyadari bahwa anggaran untuk film Indonesia bisa seratus kali lebih kecil dibandingkan dengan film-film Hollywood atau Korea. Ini tentunya berpengaruh pada anggaran pemasarannya, yang biasanya merupakan persentase dari nilai produksi

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