JURNAL FOOTAGE ONLINE
www.jurnalfootage.net

Jurnal Footage is a journal on video and film published by Forum Lenteng, an egalitarian non-profit organization founded in July 2003. The organisation develops social and cultural studies as tools to investigate cultural problems in society, in order to support and enhance opportunity for the creation of social-cultural empowerment in Indonesia. Forum Lenteng works by collecting and documenting data that contain social and cultural aspects, our operating framework looks historical and contemporary events that chart the development of an era. The main purpose of the work is to achieve rapprochement within the diversity of social and cultural problems facing Indonesia and the world today.

The trajectory of Jurnal Footage is to develop the discourse in audio-visual media (video and film) by creating and maintaining an objective critical space for the audience. The journal is one of many ways to document the development of audio-visual media in text, theoretically and historically. Jurnal Footage is also being projected as valuable reference materials in seeing the possible existence of language in the medium.

Jurnal Footage emerged as Forum Lenteng’s answer to the lack of well-developed discourses and critique on the audio-visual media (video and film) in Indonesia. The twice-yearly print edition as well as the online edition was initiated as a process of learning in examining social and cultural problems; in particular the problem of visual language by collecting, documenting and analyzing data—that includes historical and contemporary aspects—in Indonesia and the world.

The original conception of Jurnal Footage was divided into two forms: the print and online editions. However, currently the only accessible form for the public is the online edition. Launched since June 2008, it can be found at www.jurnalfootage.net . Subsequently, the print edition will be completed and ready for distribution to the public.

The team behind the online edition of Jurnal Footage consists of researchers, artists and communication/journalism students. There are now seven members in the team: 2 editors, 1 researcher, 1 programmer/webmaster, 2 writers/reporters, 1 treasurer, and 1 translator. The team works on a pro-bono basis except for specialised services in graphic design and translation from Bahasa Indonesia to English, which require the engagement of external assistance.

The format of Jurnal Footage online edition now consists of a main page which publishes articles pertaining to a monthly theme. The main page also presents other articles such as:

Interview – transcripts of conversations between artists and audience of video and film;
Massroom - a room for discussion and elevating discourses on video and film;
Chronicles - a set of considered important writings bearing the research of the editorial team, previously published in other mass media;
Editorial - writing that focuses on urgent/immediate issues in society. The issues are always related to the social, cultural and political matters with their close affiliation to the visual image. Editorial is very important to disseminate Jurnal Footage discourses to the public.

The online edition also consists of an Interactive Room. At the moment, Jurnal Footage has 24 members. In the future, we hope that there will be more visitors who sign up as members and subsequently, contribute their writings, information and critique to Jurnal Footage.

The current total content of Jurnal Footage stands at 34 articles - in the form of essays, critique, chronicles and interviews. The articles discuss various aspects of the video and film mediums, including critique on the video phenomenon and television (mass media); film critique and reviews; interviews with video-makers, alternative film communities, and social activists who use video as their medium. Most of the articles have been translated to English, save for some pieces finely contextualised within the Indonesian locality.

Jurnal Footage is supported by several non-profit organizations: Arts Network Asia (artsnetworkasia.org); Ruangrupa (ruangrupa.org); OK.Video (okvideofestival.org); Karbon Journal (karbonjournal.org); Konfiden (konfiden.or.id); Praxis (praxis.or.id); and Kampung Halaman (kampunghalaman.org). Forum Lenteng hopes to receive as much support as possible from non-profit organizations to develop Jurnal Footage; as long as their holistic vision coincides with Forum Lenteng.

We also have several organizations committed in helping to develop Jurnal Footage, they are: Indonesia Visual Art Archive (ivaa-online.org), Yogyakarta; Kunci Cultural Studies (kunci.or.id), Kineruku-Bandung; Criticine (www.criticine.com), The Philippines; Bumbu Forum (boemboe.org), Jakarta; and Kineforum, Jakarta. Forum Lenteng will continue to expand cooperation with various organizations and communities to develop this journal. We believe this is a sound strategy to the wide distribution of the journal’s discourse.

Hafiz
Director
Forum Lenteng