JAKARTA, Oct 8 – Two outstanding Indonesian short films, ‘Har’ and ‘50:50’, were honoured at the Viddsee Juree Awards Indonesia 2020, an annual industry pick award celebrating best short films from Indonesia. The awards ceremony, which was held virtually for the first time, was broadcasted live on Viddsee, YouTube, and Vidio on October 8.

The Gold winner is Luhki Herwanayogi for ‘Har’, which centres on a lonely boy who lives with his jobless father, while longing for his absent mother who is working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. The film is set in 1998, when Indonesia faced an uncertain future amidst civic unrest and political turmoil.

The film is no stranger to the film festival circuit, having been nominated in the Piala Citra Best Short Film category in the Indonesia Film Festival 2018, and was screened at the Busan International Short Film Festival 2019, as well as the 13th International Children Film Festival Bangladesh 2020.

“I’d like to thank Nia Dinata and Kalyana Shira Foundation, all the crew and cast who have made this possible. This film was inspired by my childhood interactions with my father, which led me to re-examine the past and our relationship. I wanted the film to be a reminder that while the past can never be repeated, we can still treasure it by bringing it back to life,” said Luhki, who runs his own production company Catchlight Pictures Indonesia, and community-based production house cre8pictures.

Rofie Fauzie was named the Silver winner for ‘50:50’, a documentary that spotlights Indonesia’s transvestite community through the personal story of Dona, an ageing transvestite living in a halfway house. It was also nominated in the Indonesia Film Festival 2019 for Best Short Documentary Film.

"I dedicate this award to my parents, family, friends, lecturers who have guided me through, and the crew whose working really hard to make this film happen. I’ve always been drawn to marginal issues, and making documentaries is my way of revealing these issues to the world. I hope that this film will shed more light and empathy towards the transgender community living on the margins,” said Rofie, a documentarian who graduated from the Indonesian Cultural Arts Institute (ISBI) Bandung in 2019.

Philipus Maliobowo also received the Audience Choice Award for ‘Koper Gendis "Finding Answer Measuring Question"’, which revolves around a 9-year-old girl who seeks to understand her father’s abusive behaviour against his mother. The winner was chosen following a public voting that closed on Sept 14.

The winners were picked by an international panel of judges comprising Filipina producer Armi Rae Cacanindin, whose short film ‘Employee of the Month’ premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week; festival programmer, film writer, and producer Paolo Bertolin, whose resume include international festivals and institutions such as IFFRotterdam, the Doha Film Institute, Mumbai, Beijing, and Torino Film Festivals; and Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen, whose film ‘Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses’ was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.

The Gold winner was awarded the Filmmaker Gold Kit, which includes a 13-inch Macbook Air, Adobe’s 12-month Creative Cloud All Apps subscription, a gold plaque, and exclusive Viddsee merchandise. The Silver winner took home the Viddsee Filmmaker Silver Kit, which includes a silver plaque, Adobe’s 12-month Creative Cloud All Apps subscription, and exclusive Viddsee merchandise.

All 10 finalists will be awarded Adobe’s 12-month Creative Cloud All Apps subscription and finalist certificates.

Supported by Vidio as its Media Content Partner
This year’s Juree Awards was the first all-virtual awards programme, which was supported by Vidio as its Media Content Partner. Under the partnership, the streaming platform promoted the awards by live streaming the awards ceremony, and hosting the finalists films on Vidio.

Coinciding with the Juree Awards is the launch of Viddsee’s Indonesian podcast ‘Difinisee’, which features frank discussions with filmmakers on the local filmmaking industry. The podcast is available now on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.  

The annual Juree Awards initiative debuted in Indonesia in 2016, and expanded to include the Philippines in 2017, and Singapore in 2018. Find out more about the Juree Awards at https://www.viddsee.com/channel/juree.

The public can learn more about the Juree Indonesia Awards Programme, as well as watch all nominated and other out-of-competition films for free on https://www.viddsee.com/channel/juree/indonesia2020

More images and stills can be found in the public drive here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1aoBXaU3lqK6PSwI5slOWIMmVMBwc1TSU

Jury Citations for Viddsee Juree Awards Indonesia 2020

Gold Winner
Winning Film: Har
Film link: https://www.viddsee.com/video/har/anob5
Director: Luhki Herwanayogi
Citation by Jury: The panel of judges decides recognises a film that gracefully reminds us on the periphery of history, life goes on. And sometimes, the big events of history affect the life of a little child. The gold award goes to Har by Luhki Herwanayogi.

About Luhki Herwanayogi
Luhki Herwanayogi is a film director from Indonesia, has been running his own production house Catchlight Pictures Indonesia and a community-based production house cre8pictures since 2009. His short films including ‘On Friday Noon’ and ‘Don’t Play Alone’ have been funded by prominent institutes and screened in various international film festivals. His another short film ‘Har’ was selected as Nominee Piala Citra Best Short Film in the most prestigious film festival in Indonesia, Indonesia Film Festival 2018. He was also a participant in 2014 FLY: Film Leadership Incubator, which was supported by Busan Film Commission and Asian Film Commission Network, and alumni of Busan Asian Film School 2019.

Silver Winner
Winning Film: 50:50
https://www.viddsee.com/video/fifty-fifty/onacf
Director: Rofie Fauzie
Citation by Jury: For its daring move to present the life of the older generation, of the transexual community, sincerely capturing the fear of growing alone and that its not knowing its own sexual orientation, for its portrayal to finding hope through the company of each other, the Silver award goes to ‘50:50’ by Rofie Fauzie. We hope by this recognition we help to normalise the feeling of the LGBTQ+ community.

About Rofie Fauzie
Rofie Fauzie is a young director who has worked on documentaries focusing on the human spirit. Rofie was born in Kuningan, April 11, 1998, and completed his studies at the Indonesian Cultural Arts Institute (ISBI) Bandung in 2019. His involvement in filmmaking began in 2015, spurred on by his love for documentary films, especially biographical documentaries that focus on the human condition. Among the films he has made include ‘50:50’ (2019), ‘ASIH’ (documentary, 2017), ‘Anak Pisang’ (documentary, 2017), and ‘Jatukrami’ (docudrama, 2018).

About Viddsee Juree Awards
Viddsee Juree Awards (‘Juree’) is an annual industry pick award celebrating best short films from Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. In each edition, the countries’ brightest talents and storytellers submit their films to a panel of international judges, who will then handpick the winning entries. Viddsee amplifies the out-of-competition entries and finalists to our audience communities. Juree is part of Viddsee’s commitment to grow a network of prestigious storytellers, to support local film communities, and to inspire a new generation of storytellers across Asia.

About Viddsee
Viddsee is a leading video entertainment platform for short premium content. With over 1 billion views powered by data insights and a trusted community, we empower storytellers by enabling the creation of films and amplifying stories to targeted audiences.

Media contacts
For Indonesia press: Indanavetta Putri indana@viddsee.com
For International press: John Lim john@viddsee.com