2014 ChopShots Opening Night. © DocNet Southeast Asia
Documentary film enthusiasts in Indonesia may not have many options when they come to cinema. Despite the fact that documentary films can be one of the tools to profoundly observe a society, most cinemas rarely play them. Realizing this, British Council supported 2014 ChopShots, an international documentary film festival focusing on work from Southeast Asia that was held in Jakarta on 22-27 April.
This year, the festival opened with Jalanan, documentary about Indonesian street musicians. Directed by journalist and writer Daniel Ziv, Jalanan generated positive responses after winning Best Documentary at the Busan International Film Festival.
2014 ChopShots featured 58 documentaries that have relevant issues in the Southeast Asian region, such as politics, history, democracy, religion, public life and the struggle of the indigenous people. This year British Council brought The Imposter, critically acclaimed film that received Grand Jury documentary prize at the Miami International Film Festival and won the Filmmakers' award at the HotDoc doc festival in Toronto.
The festival also held DocNet Campus every year, a special training programme for Southeast Asian filmmakers to improve their skills. To support DocNet Campus this year, British Council brought Wenlan Peng, a producer and director of documentary film based in London, UK, where her company Sinoscope continues to produce documentary films for British television and carries out reversioning work for BBC World. Peng also works frequently as a trainer in documentary film production for the BBC, the European Union and international documentary film festivals. British Council also helped the winner of Docnet campus to participate in British council delegate programme at the Sheffield festival in UK.