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Jumat, 02 Desember 2011

iNAFFF, “See you again next year!.”

I have been attending film festivals for nearly three years now. It all started in my home town of Bandung three years ago, when iNAFFF (Indonesia Fantastic Film Festival) started to take place in Blitzmegaplex Paris Van Java in November 2009. Since that it has been one of my main stop for film festival, as it shows many great films in a film-loving atmosphere.

iNAFFF holds a really special place in my heart. I also greatly admire that it is just a nice, three days festival over a long weekend on 25th-27th November last week. For people of Bandung, attending this means a great opportunity to see some great indie thrillers from around the world that normally do not play in the town, and with reasonable prices too!. Only Rp15000 (USD 1.7) for each film during presale period, or Rp20000 (USD 2.2) during festival, we can buy tickets and see as many as 40 best 'horror, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy' films from all around the world to be screened this year.

To be honest, i actually have also seen some of films in advance. One film I just watched and blew me away is "The Yellow Sea", which is an original and unique Korean family thriller-crime drama that had me hooked for its near two and a half hour running time.


As one of the movies that i really enjoyed watching at the festival was "Loft", which is a well-acted, beautifully detective thriller from Netherlands. Loft is probably one of the best dutch movies I have ever seen. The movie is very exciting. During the movie i kept asking myself "who did it?" and till the end it was not certain who the killer is. But I must be honest, this movie is worth watching and probably the best movie in the festival. Except the twist ending, skip that, somehow.


The late night selections at the festival were also great; "A Lonely Place To Die", which became the 'surprise movie' of the festival this year had attracted so many attentions and curiosity from movie fans, the ticket for this movie was almost sold out in just a few hours after the ticket sales were open, it forced the organizer to close the ticket selling during the presale period and reopened it one day before the screening. This is a survival thriller film starring the sexy Melissa George. The film received a positive feedback from audiences right after the screening.

 

And "Claypot Curry Killers", which is a slasher film from Malaysia. Compared to "Macabre", a slasher film from Indonesia, i think Claypot Curry Killer has all points to make you directly fall in love with, as the result of, probably you might hate to eat any kinds of curry afterward.


iNAFFF is a pretty big annual indie film festival in Bandung, yet it still somehow maintains its intimacy. It is still easy to connect with a lot of people with similar interests and passions here, and in previous years i have been fortunate enough to meet fellow film fans, filmmakers and industry folk who are as crazy about film as I am.

Nothing beats the experience of watching genre films on the big screen with fellow movie enthusiast.

Scream boo, yell, clap...

Guys, let the mayhem begins again next year!.

Selasa, 15 November 2011

INAFFF is Coming to Bandung! (and The Raid is too??)


Starting next two weeks. I will be joining throng of thousands of Bandung-ers lining up to the doors of theaters. Yes, after ten days screening in Jakarta, the forth INAFFF (Indonesia International Fantastic Film Festival) is finally coming to Bandung!.

Although I could not call myself an avid movie buff, but I always enjoyed watching movies, especially indie films. They let me tap another world, another reality without me having to try hard imagining it. Unlike reading a book, you are spared from having to build your own theater of mind – which why I like reading books better. They are… how to put it… packed imagination. Of course we are talking about good movies here, because the bad ones, well, they tend to make me want to run back to my own reality instead.

And so, film festivals, like INAFFF present an excellent opportunity for me to tap and enjoy dozens of 'horror, thriller, Sci-Fi, fantasy' realities from around the world, with reasonable price too!.

I have checked the schedule, 'Serbuan Maut (the raid) is one of the movies that is going to be screened in the event. Serbuan Maut (The Raid) is an Indonesian action film by Gareth Evans starring Iko Uwais, the Indonesian Jet Li or Jacky Chan. The plot seems straight out of a Counter Strike game mission – a team of 20 elite police officers ordered to raid a 30-level building which is the headquarters of a drug lord and dozens of minions, comprising of murderers, fighters, snipers and so on, which attracts me so much. Too bad, it's positive that it will not be screened at the festival in Bandung, but only in Jakarta. *growling



Thus, be on the look out! For next two weeks, and the days after, I will walk into the theaters, sitting comfortably as the lights dim and let myself be whisked away to faraway places for hours or so. And maybe, those faraway places would delight me so, that I would be compelled to share them to all of you. I have several already in my mind to watch but that is for the next post.

See you at the screening!