Indonesian Short Movie Wins Special Mention in Berlinale

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An Indonesian short movie entitled 'Sepatu Baru' (New Shoes) has won the 'Special Mention Award' from the Children's Jury in the Best Short Film for Generation KPlus category at the Berlin Film Festival "Berlinale". The Special Mention award is an award for the second best film in the category after the Crystal Bear.

"We saw a touching story about a girl who wishes with all her heart that it stops raining. Through its wonderful imagery, this film gave us an understanding of the tradition of a faraway country," the jury mentioned during the winner announcement at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (World Cultural House) Berlin.

The "Generation" category has been aiming to films that highlight issues regarding children and youngsters. Generation Kplus is aimed for children, while Generation 14Plus is aimed for youngsters above 14 years old.

"I did not expect it," said Aditya Ahmad, the movie director. "I'm new to such festival. So this was a big surprise for me," he added. He was more surprised because the juries were German children who have a whole different culture and tradition than what he had raised on his movie.

'Sepatu Baru' tells a story about a girl, who lives in a slump area, who wants to stop the rain so that she could wear her new shoes. The girl tried to stop the rain in a local myth way which is by throwing underwears to the rooftop.

Ahmad made the film as a final project to finish his study at Makassar Art Institute. The movie was then screened in the Yogyakarta Film Festival and was proposed to Berlinale by John Badalu.

GING GINANJAR (BERLIN)