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Postcards from the Zoo

Edwin , Meiske Taurisia
Indonesia

Synopsis

Little Lana was 3 years old when she was abandoned, alone in the Zoo.

Raised by a giraffe trainer, the Zoo is the only world she knows.

Until one day, a charming magician arrives and Lana finds her love, for she is ready to leave. Together, they wander around the streets of Jakarta.

She becomes his assistant in selling medicine and performing magic.

The town loves them. Soon, they host their own TV show.

One day, the magician disappears.

Lana works as a masseuse, ‘with benefits’, her customers love her.

She tells them stories. Stories of the sound of the Hippo’s steps, the flapping of the Elephant’s ears, the strange, flute-like sound of the Giraffe. Lana no longer knows happiness. She has only the feeling of longing. Lana returns to the Zoo, seeking out the giraffe trainer, who is already gone.

Again, Lana is left alone. This time accompanied only by the feeling of longing. A longing feeling, that has haunted her all of her life.

A longing feeling, which surely haunted her father, who dared to leave Lana, his daughter, in the Zoo. Alone.

Script & intention

For me, Giraffes are the most elegant creatures in the animal kingdom. In various human cultures, long legs and neck are perceived as beautiful. Look at the way she walks, as if she were saying, “Look at me, I’m so beautiful”. There is a cockiness to it, but the beauty is there. And don’t think that a giraffe is weak, she can kill a lion with a single kick of her leg.

I’ve always wanted to touch the belly of a giraffe. When I was little I used to think… oh maybe someday when I’m tall enough. But even now, let alone to touch her, she won’t even let me come near. 3 meters is the closest. That’s the only personal experience I have about the Zoo.

I end up visiting the giraffe in the Jakarta Zoo every time I want to escape from daily boring life in the city. If the Zoo were a feeling, it would represent the feeling of longing.

Maybe the animals long to be in the wild, to hunt and be hunted, maybe it’s the visitors who long for parents, who can no longer be with them to take photos with the giant python, maybe a Zoo worker misses the child whose eyes were wounded by a stork.

Accepting one’s feelings of longing is one of the hardest things to do. Because just like a dream, it is only felt in the heart, it will never be fulfilled in reality.

When someone is filled with longing, they will become stronger beings. They will be able to give meanings to their lives.

Postcards From The Zoo is a collection of feelings of longing.

Feelings of being alone with memories, in between reality and dream.

Budget & financing

In Indonesia, we have a very poor support system for financing art and cultural activities, including film. Populated by over 200 million people a local box office film reaches an audience of almost 5 million, which turns film into a business investment. We believe that by synchronizing content with film, it could be an ideal place for filmmaking.

We have two local partners attached for Postcards from the Zoo: Miles Films and Elang Perkasa Film.

As much as we are challenged to have a broad audience, we aim to screen our film in cinemas around the world.

TorinoFilmLab becomes a film station for preparing

our new project and finding international partners to collaborate with and make the film the best it can be.

Simultaneously, we continue to seek film funds from various film funding bodies around the globe, such as the Asian Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund, Global Film Initiatives, World Cinema Fund and many others. We also pitched the project at the Pusan Promotion Plan in October this year and received support from the Göteborg International Film Festival for Best Pitching Project.

We plan to shoot the film by mid-year, 2010. In the beginning of October we shot a short pilot for the film, on location in the Jakarta Zoo, with two of the main actors, Lana and the magician.

Distribution & sales

Postcards from the Zoo celebrates Indonesia’s diversity and disorder, turning them into elaborated subjects. All characters and events spin simultaneously, which stimulates a sense of reality and dream, wrapped in a delicately humoristic cinematic language.

Edwin’s first feature has been well received at many international film festivals in both the US and Europe. Our next project with Fox Star Studios will be to turn one of Edwin’s short films into a feature. This project will ground and promote the Indonesian filmmaker’s credentials on the world film map.

Overall, we are keen to explore the strategic parts of cinema. We believe that with the support from distribution and sales people, coming on board at an early stage, our project will be strengthened already from its initial introductions and onwards. Furthermore, we believe it will support the embrace of the belief system of new, upcoming talent from the South East Asian cinema.

By partnering with such a team, we will be able to announce our work in a larger scale and better attract investors. We acknowledge that it is a small amount of numbers in the beginning; however, it will evolve in no time. We are open to start a new business adventure with Postcards from the Zoo.