Interview with Bonny Lanny, a West Papuan filmmaker

My name is Bonny Lanny.

I work with Papuan Voices Wamena.

Ealier, I made a film in my hometown in Wamena.

I made a video clip of Christian songs and

Ala Nubruk – some indigenous songs – in 2014.

Sorry, actually, I made my first film in 2011. It was more like a video clip.

My first documentary video only started when I joined Papuan Voices.

About video, documentary video, from Papuan Voices Wamena.

My first video was a report for Forum Masyarakat Jayawijaya. The issue was about denouncing the

creation of a military building in Wamena.

In terms of my involvement in the movement,

I also did photo documentation, shot demonstrations

and all of my friends' activities,

I wrapped it all in a video report.

In the beginning, I made films without professional training.

I made them spontaneously, acted according to my own plan.

I would put this here, put words in that picture, and so on.

But after I joined Papuan Voices, I started to understand

the steps we need to take, like writing a script first, and all sorts of other techniques.

For people outside to understand, we are in here, there is a delay of information and technology for us here, it's slow

So in this kind of situation, we need to do it step by step, slowly

If we want to affect change quickly, it becomes harder.

Now, we have so many Papuan children studying abroad,

but very few who study music or film.

They mostly apply for Law, Economics or IT, which have no links to this kind work.

So it is only us who understand the situation.

This is why we try to teach our brothers and sisters, based on our own experience.

We pass on the most important lessons to our brothers and sisters.

I once attended a screening at the University Negeri Jakarta.

I played several videos there.

I played one film about Freeport (the mining company).

At that time, many local indigenous people held a demonstration and kidnapped a Freeport employee.

They were shot by the police.

At the university screening, though, I realised that people in Jakarta

didn't know anything about the situation in Papua,

the real situation.

They believe that Papua is rich,

that everyone in Papua lives in luxury,

especially the 7 tribes which get yearly donations from Freeport.

They think Papuans must be wealthy, have fancy houses and cars – that sort of thing.

They think this way

because Freeport broadcasts their own information

and only presents the good things.

All of the bad things that happened to ordinary people,

they don't expose that.

The audience even asked me, these friends from other island

"So how about you? You must be a really successful person, right?"

I told them, "Are you kidding? I make a living as an ojek driver."

I think the use of film is very suitable,

because nowadays, most of the younger generation doesn't read much,

let alone the ones who don't have a higher education or have dropped out of school.

If someone drops out, they don't usually read books

but they like to watch movies.

If I analyse the situation today, people like to watch movies about an issue and they quickly understand it.

The influence is much stronger than reading books. It's slower with books

because the eagerness to read is so low.