Creative is not always lucrative: how grassroots film communities defy the ‘creativisation of culture’ in post-authoritarian Indonesia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the phenomenon of film communities in post-authoritarian Indonesia by taking four Bandung-based grassroots film communities as our case studies. Drawing on a research work underpinned by a non-exploitative insider methodology grounded in a dialogical participatory observation supplemented with semi-structured in-depth interviews with key participants, we argue that these grassroots film communities defy the ‘creativisation of culture’ process, which is an underlying mechanism of the Creative City agenda, by demonstrating three distinguishing features related to the motive, organizational mode, and the primacy of non-conventional film screening spaces. Due to these distinctive features, the Bandung-based grassroots film communities embody the traits of an underground scene, driven by the politics of value and underpinned by the DIY ethic of autonomy rather than by the logic of economic profitability, which runs counter to the Creative City policy with its emphasis on monetizable creativity.