Microcinema Kinosaurus Has Big Plans for Small Movies

Jakarta. Kinosaurus, a microcinema site with film viewings held every weekend, finally unveiled its first location inside the Aksara bookstore in Kemang, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.

The tiny movie theater is the latest addition to several alternative movie-viewing sites across Jakarta, such as Alternative Public Artspace (APA) in Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta; Paviliun 28 in Kebayoran Baru; Ruang at Pantai Indah Kapuk; and good old Kineforum in Cikini.

The Kemang site in Aksara bookstore is located next to Ganara artspace, Ruang Seduh coffee shop and Monka Magic Vinyl store.

"So it's a little bit of film, coffee, art, vinyl and books at one go," said Meiske Taurisia, co-initiator of Kinosaurus.

Meiske, who is also a producer at Babibuta Film and founder of Kolektif film distribution company, teams up with director Edwin and Adinda Simanjuntak of children's playground Club Kembang to run the micro-cinema.

For Meiske, her main goal in running Kinosaurus is to offer diversity in content and cinema.

"As a filmmaker, exhibition is our main problem. It's not like we don't want to show our films in cineplex franchises, but it means I have to make so many copies of the film and set a budget for promotion too," said Meiske, who produced Edwin's films "Babi Buta Yang Ingin Terbang" ("Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly") and "Postcard from the Zoo" with recognition from international film festivals.

Babibuta Film production house has partnered with communities  since 2008 to find audiences outside the large cineplex franchises. Now that Kinosaurus is open for public, Meiske hopes this particularly small corner in Jakarta can be a space for film buffs to watch non-blockbuster films.

Meiske said Kinosaurus is very much inspired by small, independent theaters that she found across Japan.

"All of those mini theaters in Japan are private-owned. I think it's something that we can adopt in here." she said.

In addition to a film viewing facility, Kinosaurus is also home for Lab Laba Laba, a collective of artists and audio visual workers whose mission is to share cinematic knowledge.

Kinosaurus can fit 25 people in one viewing and tickets are Rp 50,000 ($3.66) per film. The set-up is casual and rather intimate. Guests can choose to sit on bean bags or sofas around the room. Food and beverages are allowed inside.

Viewings are scheduled for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The line-up for this month includes "Mendadak Caleg," ("The Accidental Candidate"), "The Fox Exploits the Tiger's Might" and "Siti", all of which were winners at the this year's Festival Film Indonesia (FFI). Only "Siti" has not been released in Indonesian cinemas.

Numerous European flicks such as French short films, Iranian drama "Fish and Cat", American comedy "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and Swedish documentary "Tresspasing Bergman" are also on offer.

Kinosaurus also aims to tap classic film enthusiasts. The 1988  Indonesian action film "Pendekar Ksatria" ("Warrior Knight") will be shown next week, as well as British 1973 thriller "Don't Look Now" and Russian 1972 science fiction film "Solaris".[GLOBE]

Link terkait: Trailer mendadak CALEG.

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