Never Stop Learning

Life goes on. Every second of it is priceless. Every moment of it paint a colour in our memory. It is really a choice how you wanna paint it. Just like my theme. It is a drawing book. You can paint any colour any picture you want. However, life is also about responsibility. The point is, can you be responsible for the picture or colour you draw?

Over the weekend I was a student in a photography class run by Komunitas Film Jeruk Purut. During those days, I was so lucky… learning all the important aspects and responsibilities of Director of Photography. Got to taste how it was like holding a 35mm film camera. Something I usually do not directly interact. Coz most of the time in a shooting set, I have to be with my Director or trying to convince clients that everything runs smoothly.

It sent my memory back to my golden and young era. I was standing on Scarborough beach trying to read the current and swell in front of me, before going in with my board. It was winter in Australia. But I felt in love so much with the ocean. Riding the waves, surrounded by heavy clouds – just like in Coldplay music clip “Yellow”. Be friend with the nature, not trying to defeat it.

Then a native surfer came up to me. This guy was a hard charger. I’d seen him a few times slicing the big waves in the local beach. When he was up on his feet, everyone of us who were in the set would give him the wave. Because we all knew he would treat the wave with much better style and power than us. He was a local legend. Later I found his name was Mark.

Mark; ‘Where ya come from buddy?’
Sakti; ‘Well, Im a student from Indonesia… I live here though’
Mark; ‘Yeah, I thought so ‘ay. Hey, can you do me a favor? I got this letter from a little boy I met in Nias a few moths ago. But he wrote the letter in Bahasa ‘ay…’
Sakti; ‘Sure, show it to me, I’ll translate it’
Mark; ‘I didn’t bring it with me ‘ay. U coming tomorrow?’
Sakti; ‘Maybe, if I don’t get any waves today’
Mark; ‘OK mate, so how long u been surfin?’
Sakti; ‘Im still learning. This is my second year’
Mark; ‘Mate, you will never stop learning’

I don’t know why. But that line…”YOU WILL NEVER STOP LEARNING” has been stuck in my mind until now. At that time my perception was only.. Fuck, this champion says that! He himself thinks that there’s a lot of things he needs to learn more in surfing. But now I see it differently… Life is not about trial and error. Life is about learning if you want to progress. Everyday we learn…. To be a better man.

The following is a short synopsis of a documentary film I incidently made in the last trip to Toraja...
Above is Samantha, thru her eyes you will feel the mamali spirit




GIRLS ARE HOME – a synopis


This documentary film follows a special moment in a life of a Toraja teenage girl, Novi, a student at SMU Katholik Makale, Tana Toraja. The region is quite famous as one of the best tourist destinations in Indonesia. The people believe in their own special old traditions and values in living their life. They have pride in everything they do.

Now it is the time for the people of Toraja, who lived anywhere, to go back to the city of Makale, to gather there, to celebrate life, to celebrate their pride. A campaign, later called Toraja Mamali was then set to promote this spirit, after a gigantic statue was raised in the Lake of Makale – the landmark of Makale. “Toraja Mamali” means “Longing for Toraja”. The campaign successfully gained extensive pros and cons from Torajan anywhere they were. They were invited to watch street festivals, statue inauguration by the Vice President of RI – Mr. Jusuf Kalla, and a colossal attempt to break the world record of a traditional dance by the most dancers. Of course, MURI Version.

Tens of thousands Torajans came home in Mamali spirit. Amongst them, there was this 4 years old little girl, Samantha. She was born in Australia from an Aussie mother and Toraja father. It would be her first trip back to her ancestor’s land. Sure she’d see many things she did not normally see in her little modern world.

Novi was one of the 2000 local dancers who prepared themselves for 2 (two) months. She was also one of the lucky sixty something girls who will dance right in front of Mr. Kalla who was there along with other 125,000 spectators. She also felt and saw many new experiences in her young teenage life.

The thirty minutes feature tries to reveal the event, “Toraja Mamali” from the eyes of Samantha and Novi. Innocent eyes who have one thing in common, they were of Torajan descendent. Here and there, we could see amazing proofs of local great traditions from Samantha perspective. But then mixed with visuals showing how complicated it is to organize such a big event from the eyes of Novi.

Most back sound or music illustrative will be traditional or modern Torajan or other ethnical base tunes. Editing will be dynamic, with the use of simple graphic concept. When suitable, I would like to use dynamic cuts as transitions.


by:sakti parantean

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