Director Ginanti Rona on Filming Violence and Dealing with Censorship
Jakarta. Ginanti "Gita" Rona started her career by assisting talented directors Gareth Evans in both "The Raid" movies and the Mo brothers for "Rumah Dara" ("Macabre"). Her fascination with classic films by Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino finally led her to taking on the thriller project "Midnight Show" as her feature debut.
Thriller is a difficult genre for Indonesian directors because of restrictions on depictions of violence imposed by the film censorship board, or LSF. When Gita and producer Gandhi Fernando submitted "Midnight Show" to the LSF, the board was in the process of a leadership change. There were delays and even changes in policy as the board under new management expressed a zero-tolerance line on scenes featuring violent death.
As a result, "Midnight Show" underwent substantial cuts, including the dropping of a four-minute murder scene from the start of the movie. Speaking after a press conference in Jakarta on Friday, Gita said she was a little bit upset about the cut, but understood that she did not have the final say on this matter.
"It doesn't affect the story, but the nuances are missing," she said. "I just wish the censorship board was willing to communicate with filmmakers before they take out certain scenes in the film."
Gita received the offer to helm "Midnight Show" from Gandhi's production house, Renee Pictures, last year, and did a full rewrite of the screenplay. She said the violence in the movie was an important factor for the characters to survive the horror in the story.
"I think it's important to play with emotions. The film represents all the cruel things in life, and I would very much like to let the audience interpret the meaning of the violence in the film," she said.
Despite being one of the rare women directors in Indonesia to delve into the thriller genre, Gita said she didn't want to be pigeonholed right at the start of her career.
"I'd like to do something that isn't thriller in the future," she said.
"Midnight Show" opens in theaters nationwide next Thursday.
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