Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2018 | Page 75

Explore | Interview
73
DIAN SASTROWARDOYO
FROM SILVER SCREEN
STARDOM TO SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Interview by Lisa Siregar
Photos by Yunaidi Joepoet and courtesy of Dian Sastrowardoyo
“I also wanted to start a new trend by
incorporating Sumba textiles into daily attire.
For the whole month of August, I wore kain
Sumba every day.”
The exhibition helped to bring exposure to
the traditional art of hand weaving in Sumba.
Dian said she still occasionally gets requests
from Jakarta socialites who wish to buy more
fabrics from Sumba weavers, months after
the exhibition ended. Through its auction
programme, the exhibition successfully raised
IDR250 million for the Waterhouse Project.
“Our foundation does not have experience
of working in Sumba, so we passed our
money on to the Waterhouse Project. They
keep extending their programmes to other
villages in Sumba every year,” she said.
The money is being used to build clean water
facilities at Wairinding village in East Sumba,
which start operating this month.
Apart from her activities with the
foundation, Dian also runs a healthy food
restaurant in Senayan City mall in South
Jakarta called The MAM, and a photography
start-up, Frame a Trip, with her colleagues.
On top of all that, she is still keeping herself
busy with acting. She is currently working
on two films: a drama about friendship
and a thriller/horror film. Both are set
for release later this year.
As an actor, Dian said she is open to any
kind of acting challenge. She looks up
to US actor Meryl Streep for her ability
to adapt to any kind of film.
“I don’t want to limit myself. I look up
to Meryl Streep for being able to play in
comedy, horror, thriller, drama. She was even
funny and excellent as a faulty opera singer
[in the 2016 comedy Florence Foster Jenkins].
I want to expose myself to any role. I think
that’s the great thing about being an actor.”
Dian is also looking for opportunities to
enrich her skills. Last year, her foundation
produced a short film based on Laut
Bercerita (The Sea Speaks His Name), the
latest book by journalist and film critic
Leila Chudori. Dian starred in the short
along with actors Reza Rahadian, Ayushita
Nugraha and Tanta Ginting. The project
was initiated by her manager, Wisnu
Darmawan, but Dian said she is keen on
learning more about filmmaking.
The film industry in Indonesia is
notorious for being unpredictable,
but Dian was delighted to see how good a
year 2017 was for Indonesian movies.
There were films like Marlina the
Murderer in Four Acts and Turah that
received recognition at international
festivals. Also, for the first time in decades,
11 Indonesian films earned more than
a million viewers in 2017.
Previously, it would be the case that only
the best-selling Indonesian film of the year
would earn one or two million viewers.
She hopes this trend will continue.
“I remember being optimistic about our
film industry only to see it crash because
our audiences were only interested in
hard-selling movies. Now we have on-
demand platforms that allow access to
any kind of content.”
Dian said she wants to start producing
films. She has been browsing for online
courses about filmmaking that allow her
to study after her children go to bed.
However, her years of experience as an
actor have taught her that the most
challenging part of film producing is
finding good scriptwriters.
“I think scriptwriting is the hardest
part. In Indonesia, good scriptwriters
are rare. Sometimes I also ask myself
if I should just start to learn
scriptwriting,” she laughed.