JAKARTA. The Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) is promoting the construction of smaller, movable cinemas, which are cheaper and can be moved from place to place, to facilitate the growth of the domestic cinema industry.

Bekraf head Triawan Munaf said the growing Indonesian cinema industry needed to reach out to larger audiences, as the number of cinemas was stagnant: In the 1960s, Indonesia recorded 890 screens nationwide, and that number has grown to only 1,117 screens today.

The agency has received proposals from Indonesian investors for “digital domes”, movable single cinemas with a capacity of 30 to 45 adults; another proposal is to rejuvenate old factories into small cinemas.

“The level of service need not be the same as at large cinemas - projectors are now cheaper and for smaller rooms, a medium sound system is enough,” Bekraf head of infrastructure Hari Sungkari told thejakartapost.com during a The Jakarta Post event entitled “Accelerating Infrastructure Development” on Monday.

Triawan said the number of Indonesian cinemas nationwide was more or less the same as that in Beijing alone.

 “It is the same as the number of cinemas in Beijing, while South Korea has around 5,000 screens,” Triawan said. South Korea has a population of around 50 million population, Beijing 11 million.

Data gathered by Bekraf show that cinema audiences in Indonesia are growing quickly. Recent release London Love Story, for example, attracted audiences of 1.1 million, Rudy Habibie 2 million, Koala Kumal (Shabby Koala) 1.6 million, My Stupid Boss 3 million and Ada Apa Dengan Cinta 2 (What’s Up with Cinta 2) 3.7 million. The record is held by Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) with 7.1 million. (Anton Hermansyah)

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie