How digitisation is streamlining filmmaking process in Indonesia

The Indonesia Film Facilitation (IFFa) portal, managed by PT Produksi Film Negara (PFN) – or the State Film Production – and the Ministry of Tourism, is a digital solution that helps to simplify the film production licensing process.

PFN President Director, Dwi Heriyanto, says that IFFa allows filmmakers to easily connect with filming location providers with a one-stop licensing mechanism.

"This portal makes it easy for domestic and international filmmakers to book shooting locations online without having to go back and forth for permits to various agencies," he shares in conversation with GovInsider. 

According to Heriyanto, applying for a filming permit in Indonesia was previously a nightmare. International filmmakers had to fulfill at least 31 licensing procedures before they were allowed to shoot in Indonesia, which include administrative processes, shooting permits, location permits, security permits, and so on.   

This led to Indonesia losing the opportunity to become a major destination for international filmmaking. International filmmakers prefer Thailand or Hong Kong, which are known for their streamlined licensing systems.

"Our idea is how to break that complexity and make it faster and easier," he adds.   

PFN is a government-owned film production agency whose mission is to produce and distribute official government movies including documentaries, biopics, cultural treasures, and community advertising videos, with the aim of providing education and entertainment for the public.   

As a state-owned enterprise, PFN is also an aggregator of film production houses – with IFFa as part of this function - and provides funding to Indonesian filmmakers to develop the national film ecosystem.  

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Provide certainty to filmmakers  

Heriyanto underlines that filmmakers need certainty to adhere to their production timelines. Therefore, IFFa provides fast services by requiring licensing agencies and filming location managers to provide approval no more than seven working days.   

"This system also encourages transparency in state revenue from the film industry and prevents unofficial levies in the field." 

IFFa provides booking services for shooting locations in various locations in Indonesia, including PFN studios, state-owned areas and properties, and tourist destinations in the country, at competitive prices.  

For state-owned enterprises partners, this is an opportunity for them to earn additional income outside of their core business and support the government in promoting Indonesian tourism to the global market.  

In the future, this portal will be developed as a one-stop solution for the Indonesian movie industry. Beyond the ease of obtaining filming permits, filmmakers can also find cast, crew, and rent production equipment.

Challenges in the transition process  

PFN faced challenges during the transition from the old system to the digital system. When IFFa was launched in November 2023, the location rental prices were not standardised, making each manager set different pricing policies. 

"It took a long time and intervention from the central government before all our partners agreed on a standardised price," says Heriyanto.  

The next challenge was that filming location providers had different experiences when adapting to the new system. There were some PFN partners who deployed admins who lacked expertise and experience in how the new system works and thus had to be accompanied by a team from PFN.   

Inter-agency coordination and communication barriers were the next problem, especially when the shooting is conducted in public areas. Filmmakers often have problems with security officers asking for permits, which is because the officers have not received a copy of the permit or were not properly informed.  

"We are just starting out, but we endeavour to continue developing ourselves to benefit Indonesian and foreign filmmakers." 

AI Movie Lab project 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has also penetrated the movie industry with the rise of short videos, commercials, and even movies that are fully generated by AI with images that are very close to reality and look like they are played by real actors. 

PFN tries to embrace AI by establishing AI Movie Lab, a research project that examines the use of AI to assist the film production process. The project explores how filmmakers can use AI to speed up the production process – from drafting scripts, making voice over, to making videos.   

"Ideas and imagination remain the privilege of the filmmaker. AI is used only to speed up the research process of a film," says Heriyanto.   

PFN already has a team that can make AI movies with a focus on national hero stories, children's tales, and public advertisements, and this is one of the innovations that PFN offers to ministries.  

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Leveraging new technology 

Heriyanto was appointed to lead PFN in 2021, with the aim of reviving a company that had been operating on and off for the past two decades.  

The first thing he did was to collaborate with V2 Indonesia, an audio-visual technology company, to develop the first Immersive Extended Reality (ImXR) studio in Indonesia which has now become PFN's competitive advantage.   

According to him, XR technology offers extensive flexibility for filmmakers to enrich their movies with visuals that are difficult to capture in the real world such as sunset images, or visuals that do not exist in the real world such as in the film Avatar. 

This collaboration became a turnaround that allowed PFN to survive amidst the hegemony of private production houses. 

"Digital transformation, changing the mindset to adopt new ways, and embracing the latest technology including AI, are the keys to the success of the movie industry in the future.  

PFN will drive this effort and be at the centre of it," he says. 

This article was originally published in Bahasa Indonesia.