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Wahyu Aditya made history when he was crowned the British Council’s International Young Screen Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 in London, 25 October. The competition also includes contenders from Brazil, China, India, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland and Slovenia.
At 27, the shy boy from small town Malang, East Java, may be the youngest winner thus far in the history of the IYCEY competition.
Three years ago, he quit his job at a top television station to dedicate himself to his long-time love: animation and dreaming.
He quickly established himself by winning a number of international prizes for his quirky animations and for creating Indonesia’s first-ever animated music video for top band Padi’s huge hit, Bayangkanlah (Imagine), a visual condemnation of the futility of war.
He then established the Hello;Motion School of Animation and Cinema, which has since graduated over 500 students.
He founded the Hello;Fest short and animation film festival, screening over 400 local works and attracting more than 10,000 audience annually.
He tirelessly toured Indonesia’s schools and colleges, both for Hello;Motion and as a leading member of the Indonesian Animation and Content Association infecting young people all over the country with his brand of virus.
This ability to merge creativity, idealism, communal ethos and business acumen - typical of many Indonesian artists and creative entrepreneurs who often had to do with so little-- impressed people here and abroad.
At the ceremony at London’s Apollo Theatre, last Thursday (25/10), judges Pauline Burt (Wales Film Agency), Satwant Gill (Head of Film British Council), and Duncan Kenworthy (producer of British box office films Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually) stated that “Adit has it all: passion, a solid and commercial business model, and a highly participatory approach.”
“In a striking presentation Adit impressed with his business acumen to use education to both recruit and nurture local talent and to provide cash flow. His animation school and festival has already had real impact on the local economy. An ambitious leader, the jury has faith he will succeed in building a strong animation industry in his country”
Typically Javanese (i.e.: understated), Adit never thought he was going to win. “I thought my friends from China or Lebanon had particularly strong achievements which are very crucial to their film industries,” he said.
Adit thoroughly enjoyed his UK trip, which include visits to the London International Film Festival, a tour of Wales’ film industry, and a meeting with the producers of the Gorillaz. “It was an eye-opener; so much to learn and to catch-up,” he enthused.
As winner Adit is entitled to the £ 7500 cash grant. “I’m still deciding between using the grant to study in the UK or to invite a UK expert to Indonesia,” Adit said. “Both can be very challenging.” Future dreams include completing his feature-length animation and to build a theme park based on his own beloved cartoon characters.
Adit’s triumph follows on the success of Indonesia’s creative champions. Yoris Sebastian won the Music Entrepreneur’s consolidated prize in 2006 while Indonesia’s other finalists in subsequent music and design awards (Leo Rustandi, Ridwan Kamil and Gustaff Iskandar) equally impressed the UK juries.
Although it wasn’t until 2006 that Indonesia participated in the awards, when it did it did so intensely. In 2007, Indonesia became the first country to take on 4 awards –music, design, film and fashion-- simultaneously as one integrated programme.
The successes of their champions now practically sets ablaze the already excited discussions about the creative industries running like wild fires across Indonesia’s media pages and web blogs.
On the day of the announcement in London, Indonesia’s leading business magazine Swasembada came out with their first-ever cover story on the creative industries. The UK’s experience, BC’s creative industry programme, and Indonesia’s IYCEY Awards winners, not surprisingly, were featured in almost every page of the 48-page long report
Next up is Deli Rn Makmur, founder and managing director of FAME74, a communication agency that promotes fashion and lifestyle. He will travel this coming February to see first-hand the UK’s fashion industry, join a workshop by the eminent Paul Smith, and compete with other fantastic finalists from Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, and Srilanka.
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