entertainment

Fadli Zon Criticizes Indonesian Films: Lack Of Ideas Or Quality?

The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Fadli Zon, criticized the Indonesian film scenarios produced by local filmmakers. 

Fadli Zon said that Indonesia has countless stories that can be made into films. 

"With that diversity, 1340 ethnicities, 718 languages, there must be a lot of stories. In my opinion, the stories are infinite," he said in his opening speech at the launch of the 2025 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) in the Gelora area, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. 

That is what makes him sure that Indonesian filmmakers will not lack ideas for making films. Folk tales from various regions can be one of the main sources. 

"The stories in Indonesia, folk tales, cultural expressions that can be chosen, in my opinion, Indonesian films should not lack ideas. From a storytelling story, it is impossible to lack ideas," explained Fadli Zon. 

Even so, he feels that the films that have been made by local filmmakers have shortcomings in their scenarios. 

"Maybe the problem as we know is one of the scenarios. Our scenarios that sometimes may not be very strong, like stories in general if they are oral," said Fadli Zon. 

Therefore, he asked that someone hold a film scenario writing competition as soon as possible. Fadli Zonbagme hopes that the prizes given are large enough to attract the interest of prospective participants. 

"I even ask that there be a film scenario competition in the near future. Maybe starting with several workshops, competitions then the prizes are quite large, if it is large enough later there can be many participants," he said. 

Tag: Fadli Zon FFI Indonesian Film Festival