My Favorite Movies from 2016

I watched a lot of Movies this year!
okay, this post is partly bragging and partly sharing :)
Instead of listing top 5 or top 10, I will pick some movies based on the category or genre, because it is hard to choose my number 1 favorite movie.

Animation:

Ma Vie de Courgette (My Life as Zuchinni)
Not only because of the adorable design, amazing stop motion animation, but also the heartwarming story.  I really love the character of Simon.
I am so lucky to watch this movie at Dok Leipzig because it is probably won't be screened in Indonesia.

Zootopia

What's not to love? It's a story that we really need, a story of fighting against discrimination and social stereotypes.

Digimon Adventure Tri chapter I
I'm too old to say I was growing up watching the animated series, but I really do like the animated series.  I watched this movie with my little sister who really growing up watching the series.  I secretly shed a happy tears when listening to the theme song.

Indonesian Film:

Siti

Siti is an indie film, produced at 2014 but released in Indonesia at 2016. The film win many awards.  The famous quote is "Gusti Allah mboten sare, Gusti Allah Piknik", means God is not sleeping but He is having Picnic.  But personally my favorite scene is when Siti and her friend staring at the ocean and yelling "ASSSUUUUUUUU!!!!".  Fyi, Asu means dog (yeah, woof woof), which is a cursing word.

My Stupid Boss

My Stupid Boss is a comedy about an eccentric boss. I normally don't watch Indonesian comedy, but I saw the advertisment everywhere, the trailer look compromising, the cast are great so why not?  And it turn out to be one of my favorite movie this year.

Tiga Dara

It is actually a 1957 film, it is black and white, but recently restored and screened at the theater.  It is still a great musical film, and the story is still relevant to current situation.  There is also a new adaptation to this movie, I haven't watch it, but I think the original film is a masterpiece.  

Thriller:

Don't Breathe

Rather than put this film on the Thriller category, I want to put it on "tai pisan" (=extremelly sh*tty) category because I really hate the main character, which actually means it is a very successful thriller.  Just like the title, it forced me to gasping and hold my breath.

Money Monster
As an economics faculty drop out, I feel like I need to watch this movie.  And hey it's a thriller!  Like we all know, money is the most honest motivation to drive a man to do many things, in this movie, taking hostages.

Now You See Me 2
compared to the other 2 thriller movie, this movie is the lightest movie.  But it's a fun and cool movie to watch.

Horror:

Conjuring 2

I watched too much horror and went numb, I hardly get scared of horror films, but I still love Conjuring series.  Valak reminds me of my school headmaster, as I was in a Catholic school.

I love the part when Ed singing the Elvis song.   

Train to Busan
It's a Korean zombie movie!  it's a complete package of thriller, horror, action and drama.  The Drama is a little bit too much, but well, that's a Korean movie.

Sadly, I didn't watch a lot of horror movies this year, as many horror movies were screened on October and November and I was too busy during those months.

Biopic:

Sully
Firstly, I watch this film because Tom Hanks is the main cast. And then it was directed by Clint Eastwood, I like his previous film "American Sniper". And it's a biopic,  sometimes real story is more amazing than fairy tale.  And it is.  It's a very good story, very touching, and might be cool in 4D.

Hacksaw Ridge
I watch it because of spiderman :p
It's a Mel Gibson movie so it's a religious movie but also bloody!!!  I like war movie and it's better because it's based on true story so the heroism is more realistic and humane than superhero movie.

WTF movie:

Terraformars

I know the genre supposedly post apocalyptic movie, but this movie is more precisely described as WTF movie.  Here's the summary: the earth is heavily populated so, human beings looking for a new planet to live.  They choose Mars, which is colder than the Earth, so they make it warmer by sending cockroaches to make it polluted.  Somehow the radiation makes the cockroach mutated into a big and muscled cockroach.  A group of unlucky people were sent to exterminate the cockroach.  

OH and I haven't told you the most WTF part, you better watch it by yourself, but let me warn you, this is a terrible movie.

I like Takashi Miike films but this one is so terrible that I have to put it on my favorite movie list.

Swiss Army Man

Enough said. Anybody wants to convince me that it is not a WTF movies?

Other Genre:

Okay, I'm getting lazy and don't know what to put this movie under which genre.  These are great movies and some wait for months or years to watch them, including me.

Fantastic Beast

It's a must watch film for Harry Potter fans.  But unfortunately I didn't read Harry Potter so I got lost when watching this film, like who they were talking about, what, why.  But despite not knowing all the details, it is still a magical movie with great story.  The beasts are adorable, especially the one who like to steal things

Doctor Strange

I'm not really sure to put this movie on my favorite movie list but after I compare it with the other superhero movie on 2016, this could be my favorite superhero movie.  oh I just don't like superhero movie.

Okay that's all.  I might forgetting some movies, but how can I say it's my favorite movies if I don't even remember it?  I still haven't watch Headshot, so maybe I will add that movie later.

After the DOK

HUH? where's the story during the Dok?
if you wait patiently, you will read it, but not yet.
I only have nice experiences, that for sure :)

After the world premiere of "Pulang ke Indonesia", I got some invitation e-mails to submit the film and also some offer to hire "festival agency".  I'm not sure with the term, I guess it's an agency which will help me submitting my film to various festival.  It's a great idea actually, considering submitting the film takes time, money, and a hell of internet data.  But of course, you need a large sum of money to hire the agent.

SO, I am still doing everything by myself, but it is nice to know that there is an easier way to do everything.  And since I am currently self employed, I could spend days only to submit the film to various festival.  As a really novice filmmaker, I don't have festival strategy, or to be honest, to submit the film to other festival than DOK Leipzig was not in my plan.

My plan was to work as a designer again, as a normal employee, but the company cut me off so I need to change my plan.  Oh, I have started working as freelance designer and I got some projects, so I'll be fine.  For now.

I'm not confident at all with my animation so I only send it to few festival, preferrably the ones with free submission, but I did pay for some submission especially for the ones who invited me.  I know that there's a possibility that my animation wouldn't be selected but I am really thankful for the invitations.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, I skipped the submission to film/animation festival, although I really want to participate and screening my animation in Indonesian festival.  First, because I am not confident with my animation. Second is because the rules and regulations are not in details.  Like, they don't mention what they would do with the film submitted.  This is important because there are some festival which doesn't allow submission of any film which is already in youtube/ vimeo.

So, I'm really sorry, I can't show the animation yet :(

Hellofest 9

There is less than 2 months before 2014.
It's been an exciting year.  I'm still expecting a few more "fireworks" before the 2013 is over.
But last week's fireworks was so exciting that I think it's already safe to say that it's an awesome year!

I spent my last weekend at Hellofest, the biggest pop culture festival in Indonesia.
One of my animation, Lulu, was screened on a big screen by the swimming pool, with about 4000 audience.

That was a very awesome moment, I wish I made a better animation to show, cause there were 102 movies which were screened that night.  My animation just one of it, and the other movies are so good that I wanna watch them all over again.

Oh,  and there was also my 8 seconds movie, screened that night. The title was Simalakama.
Here's my ID card for the Hellofest. 

 There are also "kartu voting" or voting card, to vote the favorite animation and movie.  I didn't return the cards since I wanna keep it for souvenir. But I'm so glad that my favorite animation "Sang Suporter" and my favorite movie "Bank Note" still won. 

The day before the Hellofest, as one of the finalist, I got a free invitation to the "Hellofest Masterclass".   The contributors were Kieran Argo and Jun Awazu.  I learn and found out many things from them about movie festival and producing animation.  I feel like I found another purpose in my life as an animator.  
After being an animator for years, I thought there was nothing more that I could do, but now there is! And it's gonna be a long way, so I better start now.

A film cut from Jun Awazu's Negadon. He gave it away after the Negadon's screening as a souvenir to the audience.

Oh by the way, I didn't win, but I already feel happy for this exciting experience. It's priceless.  I hope I can do better in the future and participating again on the next hellofest. Thanks Hellofest :)