DEMURE AS CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, HANNY SAPUTRA IS ONE OF ASIA’S FILM DIRECTORS ON THE MOVE. NOW TRYING HIS HAND AT HORROR, HE DISCUSSES HIS LIKES, FRIGHTS AND FUTURE PROJECTS WITH SABRINA LEE

When he speaks, Hanny Saputra’s hand movements are clear and precise – as if he were directing an invisible movie right in front of you. Sitting in Jakarta’s Sinemart office at noon, he is already on his second cup of coffee for the day. Humble in appearance, Saputra answers each question asked of him with fixed intent.

Directing his newest project reminds the director of his childhood in Salatiga, Central Java, growing up in a town where the mysticism was as thick as kretek smoke. As a boy, he was terrified of things that went bump in the night, an affliction he says he has since grown out of. “I used to have an overactive imagination,” he confesses. Fortunately, for us, he still has a very rich one.

His latest film, The Real Pocong, is the fourth installment in Indonesia’s popular Pocong horror movie series. In it, Saputra says he chose to scare audiences more with strong mise-en-scènes, or scene setting, rather than over the top make-up. The film’s plot centers around a couple haunted by the spirit of a dead woman, which is trying to possess their five-year-old child.

Saputra explains: “This spirit has a possessive love. When she killed herself, she took her child with her. Now her evil spirit returns in search for her ‘daughter’.” Avoiding typical horror clichés, Saputra filmed most of The Real Pocong in the afternoon, rather than dead of night. “That’s where the real challenge is – to instill fear when it’s still light”.

At 43, Saputra comes across like a wide-eyed innocent among cynics. He wakes at seven each morning to jog after an early night, and plays tennis whenever he can. He doesn’t smoke or drink, unusual for someone working in such a pressure-cooker environment, and living in a city where many live hard and fast.

A people’s director, Saputra would like to be a flag bearer for the quality end of Indonesian filmmaking. He estimates that two new feature films are released every week, a figure that he finds alarming. Yet he takes extra care with the messages in his movies, and remains confident that good work will find an audience. “There are wealthy people who set up production houses without any care for quality control. These films make the industry very unstable. But I’m predicting a more discerning audience, and not one that just swallows every piece of celluloid that’s churned out.”

As a stylist, Saputra’s ambition is to learn the art of storytelling more through emotions. He cites Zhang Yi-Mou as his favourite director. “Directors like him are very poetic in their filmmaking. They take you on a journey as they bring their ideas to the screen.”

Amidst the cacophony of sound that comprises Indonesia’s film industry, Saputra remains dedicated to making the best of each script he receives, horror or otherwise, balancing artistic integrity and commercial success. In a climate where you can’t tell whether a film is going to be hot or a flop, Saputra remains unfazed.

“I grow with each film I make. I think that I’ve matured as a filmmaker. You’ll never stop finding problems but, hopefully, you also find the answers to them.”

A self-confessed sponge for everything, when you watch The Real Pocong, don’t be too surprised if somewhere in the theatre, Saputra is there watching you too – analyzing your every reaction to the fruits of his labor, one scream at a time.

The Real Pocong will be released in major cinemas in January 2009.

THE PRODUCER’S CHAIR

Cindy Christina Sutanto, producer of The Real Pocong, says of Saputra: “With his success of our previous horror film Mirror, we were privy to his unusual hand in making a horror film. Hanny creates fear with beauty and the light of day, something that I find unique.”