If Indonesia has wayang , England has The Paper Cinema . The Paper Cinema create a show based on a synthesis between the elements of music, sound effects , illustrations , and live animations . Using hand drawn paper puppets, intricate pen and ink illustrations are manipulated in real time in front of a live video camera and projected onto a large screen alongside the live score and lights effects.
Indonesia had the opportunity to watch The Paper Cinema on 7-8 March at Salihara Theater and 10 March at IFI Yogyakarta . Playing the adaptation of The Odyssey , Homer’s epic of King Odysseus struggle to return home after the Trojan war.
The Paper Cinema successfully made all the audience both at IFI Yogyakarta and Salihara Theatre in awe. All elements are synchronized into a very epic performance. Solid teamwork and even the movements of personnel made the show more interesting . They received a standing ovation at the end of every show.
As expressed by Djaduk Ferianto, a well known artist and musician,” In Javanese this may called as ‘wayang bocor’ (leaked puppetry). It could inspired the shadow puppet scene to explore themselves even more. At least it opens the possibilities for shadow puppet scene to tremendously elaborate in the context of the modern cinema.”
The Paper Cinema also shared knowledge in workshop organized by Papermoon Puppet Yogyakarta and Salihara Community. Selected participants consist of musicians, illustrators, and filmmakers who came not only from Jakarta and Jogja, but also from Bandung, Brasil, and Australia. They assigned to work on a short performance in Paper Cinema techniques.
Once again it is proven that the simple ideas with intense creativity can produce a very magnificent performances.