BERSELANCAR DI MALAM MINGGU
“Termakasih dan Selamat Malam… Ibu” Pada Layar Lebar


Seperti sudah disangka sebelumnya, orang Jakarta (baca: Indonesia) punya hobi terlambat datang ke sebuah acara. Seperti saat pemutaran perdana film dokumenter garapan Ivan Handoyo, “Thank You and Good Night Mother” (TYGNM) Sabtu, tanggal 25 Maret 2006 (hari pertama) dan Minggu tanggal 26 Maret 2006 (hari kedua) di Goethe Institut Menteng. Acara dua hari screening ini pun ditambah dengan musik hidup dari musisi pengisi soundtrack seperti cozy street corner, bonita, sore, the mystical awakening project dan the dying sirens. Dijadwalkan pukul 19.00 setelah pemutaran press sebelumnya, tapi baru pada jam delapan malam para tamu berkerumun di depan pintu. Bagi yang sedang menunggu untuk dibukanya pintu teater, bisa menikmati foto-foto pameran karya ivan handoyo, ernest irwandi, dan Diana kertamihardja.

Hari itu, dengan sangat menghibur, pertunjukan musik hidup oleh “The Mystical Awakening Projekt”, ‘Cozy Street Corner’ dan ‘Bonita’ menghentak panggung dan membuat siapa saja di dalamnya tercengang. Pembuka film dokumenter ini cukup spektakuler, karena baik ‘Cozy’ maupun ‘Bonita’ sanggup berbicara dengan penonton lewat musik mereka.

Pukul 21.00 kemudian lampu menjadi temaram digantikan nyala layar yang kebiruan, pertanda film akan segera dimulai. Film diawali dengan potongan-potongan gambar tragedi Tsunami di Aceh bersama suara sang sutradara yang mengawali narasinya. Gambar berpindah ke bagian barat pulau Jawa, dimana peselancar asal Bandulu dan Carita bercerita tentang kecintaanya dengan dunia surfing. Adegan ini membawa kita menyelami secara sederhana bagaimana sulitnya mengatakan ‘cinta’ lengkap dengan alasan-alasannya. Peselancar bebas ini hampir tidak bisa mendedahkan apa yang mereka rasakan, kalimat kemudian terpatah-patah dengan susunan yang berantakan, tapi sungguh bermakna. Bagi mereka, selancar adalah bagian dari nafas kehidupan, ia bukanlah pekerjaan, bukan pula suatu kebutuhan, melainkan ‘kepuasan batin’ yang lebih bersifat insani.

Penonton tidak hanya dibuat berfikir oleh kerumitan kalimat narrator dan para pemainnya, tapi dibuat terkesima oleh deretan gambar-gambar niryukti Nusantara. Pemandangan maha indah yang dimiliki kepulauan Indonesia sungguh menenangkan. Alur cerita dalam film TYGNM cenderung lambat dengan fragmen yang terpecah. Diawali dengan perkenalan diri kemudian diakhiri dengan klimaks gulungan ombak ditambah suara menderu gulungan ombak yang mematikan. Adegan ini memaksa kita untuk, sekali lagi, berfikir bahwa selancar adalah fenomena dwiakibat. Satu sisi, begitu mengasyikan di sisi lain, menyengsarakan. Akhirnya, film yang bersifat kontemplatif ini ditutup oleh alunan musik mendayu dengan pemandangan papan selancar yang mengapung beriringan tanpa penunggangnya.

Salah satu keajaiban Film TYGNM yang masygul adalah: musik pengisi. Sang sutradara betul-betul melakukan tugasnya. Memberikan jiwa dalam filmnya lewat musik-musik terpilih. Tidak ada ruang untuk kesalahan antara perpaduan gambar dan musik. Musik yang ada di dalam film ini pun dibuat dalam bentuk original soundtrack dengan pemilihan lagu oleh sutradara dan budi mulianto.

“Saya baru tahu ada tempat surfing di Banten” ujar Derry yang bersama Istri hadir di hari pertama pemutaran film TYGNM. “Dari film ini juga saya jadi tahu ada suatu daerah bernama Bandulu di daerah banten yang begitu indah dan penuh dengan para peselancar. Selama ini saya taunya Cuma Bali sama Nias aja tempat buat beselancar” menurut Hanum kemudian. Lain dengan yang Agni ungkapkan: “Bagus banget, jadi ingin buat film”, atau Windy: “Surfing itu susah enggak sih?”. Tanggapan dan ungkapan spontan yang terlontar dari para penonton di hari pertama dan kedua beragam-ragam. Antara kagum, sedih, senang, bingung, hingga terinspirasi. Ungkapan perasaan mereka-mereka inilah yang menjadikan TYGNM memiliki nilai di hati dan khasanah penontonnya.

“Kami membuatnya dalam waktu, minimal, dua tahun, dengan pengorbanan yang tidak sedikit” kata Diana Kertamihardja, Produser film TYGNM. Dalam kapasitasnya sebagai produser, ia mampu mengintegrasikan aspek-aspek teknis dan non teknis selama produksi berlangsung hingga terlaksana pemutaran perdana TYGNM itu. “Kesulitan terberat adalah saat memperkenalkan konsep idealis ini kepada khalayak bisnis saat kami mencari sponsor. Sampai sekarang sambutannya masih cenderung rendah dari pihak pemegang dana, tapi kami harus terus maju!” Diana mengatakannya dengan semangat.

Film berdurasi 64 menit ini tidak menutup kemungkinan bisa dijadikan barometer kemajuan dunia film sekaligus dunia olahraga selancar di Indonesia. Tapi yang pasti film TYGNM adalah investasi bernilai bagi khasanah Budaya Nusantara. Dengan kembali kepada diam, terimakasih dan selamat tidur… Ibu.

Gandrasta Bangko

Ivan takes passion to big screen

Features - April 02, 2006


The Goethe Haus recently screened the newly completed surfing documentary, Thank You and Good Night Mother, by a young graphic designer-turned photographer, Ivan Handoyo. Film writer Paul F. Agusta met with the filmmaker, who is planning for a cinematic road show to universities and art houses throughout Indonesia, to speak about his dual passions.

PFA: How did you come to select surfing as the theme for your first full-length documentary film? IH: Surfing has long been a ritual for me. When I surf, everything that has been imposed upon me, like my identity and social status, all becomes nothing. All of my energy becomes focused on that one moment of activity.

I often get tired of the urban stimulation I experience everyday, and I say to myself: "What is this all about, everything is so fake?" It's all about material things, and I have found surfing to be an effective form of meditation to get me away from all that.

But I'm not trying to indoctrinate anyone into surfing, this film is just about sharing my own personal connection with the waves. Your film comes across as a kind of personal video diary; did you intend it to turn out that way? Also, why did you not focus more on the lives of the surfers encountered in the film?

I intended to be very objective about it. There was a part of me that I wanted to share; I was far more than an observer in this film. I became aware of an interior side of my consciousness responding to the images I was collecting, and I wanted to share that too. The exterior side of my consciousness, I tried to convey through the surfer kids, their social lives and how surfing has become a sort of religion to them.

The truth is that there's not much difference between me and them; almost none at all. The way they perceive me is the way I perceive them. We have one voice, which is what I felt I was trying to show in the film.

This film belongs to all of us, me and the kids. I was just the one that put it together. How long did the filmmaking process take, from the beginning to the completion?

It started with a wave-finding trip in February 2004. Bali was too far away, and surfing has become too much of a pop culture and commercial venture there, so I went to Bandulu and Carita. I found that the feeling was different there. The 2004 trip was just the beginning. I met those guys and kept going back every two weeks or so because it's so close to Jakarta.

And I got inspired. I had to create something with these guys. It was spontaneous; I absolutely had no plans to make a film. The observation process took quite a while because it was hard to get them used to the camera. I had to break down the boundaries between us as filmmaker and cast, so that we became one.

So I lived with them for weeks at a time, only coming back to Jakarta when I had work... It takes a long time with documentaries because the narrative is so expansive. You don't have a clear script; you have to pick your stories from what you record. What was most interesting about the film to me was that they all have day jobs and their own lives, but all that stops when a wave comes. Could you tell me a little more about their jobs and their lives?

Well, when we're talking about professional surfers, surfing has become their vocation, they have sponsors and paid exhibitions. But these guys are just regular people who have to find a way to make a living elsewhere, who all share one voice when they start talking about the waves.

And the waves there are so rare that they would leave their work without hesitation and run to get their boards and head to the sea. Everyone there understands this, and just lets them be.

Mostly they make their money from tourism, from the resorts by working as security guards, lifeguards or water sport coaches. Most of them also get some sponsorship from the Banten provincial administration for sailing competitions. So, after the Goethe Haus screening, what are your plans for Thank You and Good Night Mother?

I am currently looking for sponsorship to fund a road show of this film to campuses and art houses across the country that might want to screen it. I also plan to enter it in various festivals around the world.

Documentary: Surfing as philosophy of life

Features - March 19, 2006


Tari Danawidjaja, Contributor, Jakarta

The sea has its own secret, the waves tell their own story. The documentary opens with men paddling out to sea. They pause, waiting for a good wave, and then they are riding, conquering it. The sea has become their life, their soul and source of happiness.


The sea has a different meaning for the Acehnese people. Their villages, lands and homes were wiped out by the mother of all waves; they were drowned in grief.

To some, the sea brings joy and happiness, while it brings grief and pain to others -- and this is exactly what Ivan Handoyo tries to convey in his debut documentary, Thank You and Good Night, Mother.

In 2004, Ivan -- who directed and wrote the documentary -- began his journey to Carita and Bandulu, both in Banten, West Java. About a 2.5-hour drive from Jakarta, Carita and Bandulu are probably the closest surfing spots to the capital. The trip opened his eyes to a surfing culture in a non-urban area, as well as to the philosophy behind surfing.

In the documentary, Ivan embarks upon his journey by making friends with locals, who are mostly natural-born surfers. Ivan found something different about these surfers: They make a living through their day jobs as security guards, lifeguards, pool maintenance men or jet-ski instructors, yet the sea is their life.

Through his shots of the sea, the beach and the waves, Ivan leads the audience to look at the joys and pains of surfing. It's the paddling, the waiting and finally the riding that brings the rush, even though they are beaten by the waves over and over again.

One surfer who works as a security guard said he couldn't stand just looking at a wave -- so he would undress, grab his board and ride the waves for an hour or two, then go back to work. He'd rather do that instead of watching his friends surf and think of how much he wanted to plunge in. Surfing is his life; nothing else beats the joy of riding the waves.

It's not only adult surfers who are crazy about the sport, and even kids find their happiness on a wave.

During an interview at a surfer's hangout, several camera-shy kids revealed own their reasons for taking up the sport. Some of them are training to be professional surfers, while others dove in for the thrill and excitement -- and never mind that they're getting darker and darker.

The other, less explored side of surfing is pain and fear. One surfer admitted that once he was standing on the board, he would think of his own fear about the wave and conquer it. He added that he'd also remember God -- and that there was nothing he could do if he got carried away by a wave.

In the final minutes of the film, Ivan goes on a different journey, bringing two Bandulu friends to Bali. Here, the joy and fear become one: fears about going to a new place, buy joy in trying out some of the best surfing spots in the country.

Thank You and Good Night, Mother highlights the basic philosophy behind surfing. It's not just about lifestyle -- it's a culture and a ritual that raises a kind of spiritual truth unique to each surfer.

The documentary is very emotional, yet also entertaining. Ivan, with his background in both photography and filmmaking, has captured not only beautiful panoramas, but also the unseen bond between himself and the surfers.

Thank You and Good Night, Mother (Documentary, 60 minutes) will be screened at Goethe Haus, (021) 23550208, on Saturday, March 25 at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, March 26 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Admission is free.

ood Night Mother' explores the soul of surfing

Features - April 01, 2006


Paul F. Agusta, Contributor, Jakarta

What started as a search for the big waves along the western coast of Java has become a kind of big-screen documentary homage to the wild serenity of a rare way of life.


Thank and Good Night Mother, directed by photographer-turned-filmmaker Ivan Handoyo, is a collage of the epiphanies, memories and experiences he collected while spending several months with the local surfers of Bandulu and Carita.

A visually stunning presentation, this film manages to capture not only the passion of the surfers, but also the almost spiritual connection with their natural environment, especially when they are riding the waves along the beautiful beaches of that region.

The film, which takes the form of a video diary, begins with interviews of the local surfers and examines their emotional connections with the sport of surfing, which had long been a pastime in their homeland, but which became a true athletic undertaking for them under the tutelage of foreign surfers drawn to the challenge of the rare but beautiful and exhilarating waves there.

Ivan Handoyo intersperses these deeply personal commentaries by local surfers with visually meditative moments of footage of the breathtaking seascapes and scenes of the simple, but profound way of life of the West Java coast.

The local surfers, whose day jobs include the duties of security guards, lifeguards, and water sports instructors for local hotels and resorts, open up to reveal their passion for the waves and how their mother ocean at once dominates and enriches their existence.

One of the young men recounts how he had started surfing on the cheap wooden or plastic body boards used by swimmers in the resort area, and had desired nothing more in life than to actually own a real surf board, as did the international wanderers that came and went like the waves they chased and rode.

He begged his parents to find some way to get him a real surfboard. Day in and day out, they heard nothing else from him, until one day, they finally gave in and sold one of their cattle and bought him the coveted long board he was yearning for.

Several years on, he continues his passion for surfing, while making a decent income from guiding surfer tourists to the very best spots for finding their dream waves.

The film continues with exciting footage of road trips to the beach and surfers in action on and in the waves, featuring some astonishing underwater camera work.

Although the film unfolds through documented images of other people's lives, it is, above all, a portrait of the filmmaker's own spiritual journey as he finds himself in the waves. This is most evident in the poetically contemplative narration that accompanies the visual action throughout the film.

The first full-length documentary undertaken by this young filmmaker, Ivan Handoyo's Thank You and Good Night Mother features not only stunning cinematography, but the mesmerizing recordings of natural coastal sounds, such as the gentle rumble and massive crashing of incoming waves.

Intermixed with a deftly selected soundtrack featuring the soothing sounds of local folk group Cozy Street Corner, these natural sonic tidbits enhance the viewer's sense of actually being among the surfers in their own special slice of paradise.

This documentary film, which its maker intends to take on a roadshow to colleges and art houses throughout the archipelago, is certainly an experience one would regret missing, so look out for news of its coming to where you live and make a point of seeing it if you can.

A Synopsis

The letter from Ivan Handoyo, his own memory about simply living activity of beaches peoples. About waves and surf action. He remains attracted of two places beaches villages in Indonesia : Bandulu and Carita ( Banten ). How these peoples happiness is to get real connected with the real nature and their boards, to get in tuned with the waves and felt the moment of life. Only this present moment in waves can save their happiness for their future and past life. These memories are representation from him, which he is permanently performed as the surfer and the observer, which he has helped to create.

A Synopsis

The letter from Ivan Handoyo, his own memory about
simply living activity of beaches peoples. About waves
and surf action. He remains attracted of two places
beaches villages in Indonesia : Bandulu and Carita
( Banten ). How these peoples happiness is to get real
connected with the real nature and their boards, to get in
tuned with the waves and felt the moment of life. Only
this present moment in waves can save their
happiness for their future and past life. These memories
are representation from him, which he is permanently
performed as the surfer and the observer, which he has
helped to create.