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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian filmmaker who won the 2nd "Democracy Video Challenge" competition held by the US State Department, Adhyatmika, hopes his short movie can show Indonesian democracy to the world.

"I hope with this movie, the rest of the world can acknowledge Indonesian democracy. Democracy is not just a noun but a process, and there`s something amiss in Indonesia`s democratic processes," he said at a press conference at the US Embassy on Friday.

Adhyatmika (21), a graduate from Puttnam School of Film, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, said his work was a kind of "dark humor" movie.

"I decided to translate my understanding of Indonesian democracy through a `dark humor` movie because if I tell it in a serious way , people won`t see it. If I put it in humorous package, people are more likely to accept the message," he said.

US Assistant Cultural Attache Arend C. Zwartjes said the movie was really funny and reflected the message of the competition.

"We wanted to make dialogue about what democracy is. We didn`t want to tell the world about democracy according to our own concept, but we wanted the world to share many concepts of democracy," he explained.

Adhyatmika`s movie according to Zwartjes, was able to deal with the serious subject of democracy in a funny way.

Mika, as the Indonesian film-maker prefers to be called, earned the prize in the form of a two-week tour of the US next October together with other winners from Iran, Spain, Colombia, Nepal, and Ethiopia. The group will have an interview at Today`s Show at NBC and also a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"What drives me to take part in this competition was the chance for the winner to meet Hillary Clinton, and if I meet her, I`ll have an opportunity to tell her about Indonesian democracy," he said.

The movie was made with minimal budget of less than two million rupiah. It shows an elementary school classroom full of students with various backgrounds such as farmer, policeman, businessman, politician, The teacher asks her students what democracy is, and then one of students tries to answer the question.

"There was really no big obstacle in making the movie except to get the right persons to act and a police uniform," Mika said laughingly.

Mika admitted in making his movie he was influenced by Wes Anderson, an American movie director who was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "The Royal Tenenbaums".(*)

Editor: Heru
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