Imported New Movies...? Ehmm...No More!

The first time I actually got the news about no imported new movies will be released, was through blackberry messenger. I thought, nah it was probably just a joke, a really bad joke, I mean come on...and the next morning, like it was officially on TV that starting Feb 17th there is no new imported movie release. They even cancel "Black Swan", "True Grit", and "127 hours". Well, damn it!!Is this some kind of distraction issue as well as the "Ahmadiyah" case, and look where we are heading..ehmm..I guess the "corruption" cases are put back in the shelf. Great!

Anyway, I'm not gonna go rambling with different issue, so now Indonesia has raised the new regulation taxation for imported movies. The rumor said that this new regulation is "ridiculous" and it's just making the Indonesia's cinema falling. There is an interesting comment from Noorca. M. Massardi as the chairman of Indonesian Cinema's and Association, that went like this, “It is an outrageous import tax on distribution rights that has never before existed in any film business practice in the world,” he stated. He further explained that before the new tax was imposed, each film brought into Indonesia was already slapped with three kinds of tax that total 23.75 percent of the value of the item. A further 15 percent revenue tax goes to the country’s tax coffers, and, in addition, district governments impose entertainment taxes ranging from 10 to 15 percent of ticket sales. (quoted from thejakartaglobe.com on Feb 21st)


What the heck they were thinking when they raise the taxation for imported movies, in which Indonesian's tax is the highest among other countries? Movies can't be replaced with political tactics to distract "urgent issues". I read somewhere that they say, they raise the tax for imported films to increase the viewers for Indonesian Movies, seriously guys...threatened much??? It's the most ridiculous statement ever! Don't do that, you guys are killing the Indonesian cinemas itself. And by the way, it could actually effect the lower number of people that go to the cinema, which will lower the income for restaurant in Malls, which will cause the reduction of Cinemas' employee. There, is the government satisfied? No Harry Potter part 2, Transformer, I am number 4, Breaking Dawn..yada yada yada...yup, all gone. Oh God please don't let that happen too long. I hope we'll see our fav new movies soon in cinemas. Just remember movies are one of the media/tool of communication and information. You can't disconnect information!

pic above taken from riekonaicha.co.cc

Not Really a Sales Person

(pic courtesy of inetgiant.com)

Today, I got an interviewed by one of the English Publishing company in Jakarta. I was quite excited because, yeah...I had landed an interview in media, which is quite challenging because they offered me as an Account Executive (AE). I did not want to have high hopes, because to be an AE is not what I had in mind when working with the media. If I could not get myself out there as a writer, then being a reporter as a starter won't be a problem for me. But, i did have a bit of reluctance when I went for the interview. I know several things about AE position since my sister and my husband are working as AE too. So, at least from their stories I know what AE's desk jobs are, which is one of them involving with meeting clients (probably outside working hours). So, I thought I got it all figure out...but then...the person who interviewed me, seemed to be able to read people's mid/gesture. I did send my CV with my sample writing story, and he just said that..it seemed you have talent for writing, because people have different talents, and yours is writing, and then he went on saying what i could do to convince him that he should hire me. Yeah, so I said to him that I love to try new things, and I am someone who believe in learning by doing and with the right supervision, I could do tasks well. And so I thought, I made quite good impression on him, but what shocked me was, he said that he wanted someone who is self committed. He said that I didn't convince him enough as a sales person. I didn't get offended with him saying that, because he was quite right, I may not be the "right" person for the position, I have talents...just maybe not in sales...I convince people through my writing, I may not selling myself well enough during the interview, because I didn't feel fit with the position offered. I do want to try for the editorial, but they have no vacant position available at this moment...well, that's okay..I'm just gonna keep on writing with my children stories (co-written with my friend Saskia) and other fiction stories ideas..keep my finger-crossed and hopefully my children stories get approval and are published soon. Amin