CAREER PLAN - CHEVENING - KICKSTART A FILM INDUSTRY

Career Plan Question

Chevening is looking for individuals who have a clear post-study career plan. Please outline ...

After finishing my study, I will continue to work for FFD. First, as a program manager, I intend to make more collaborative programs with the UK government in terms of promoting both Indonesian and British documentary films. I am hoping to increase Indonesian audience's media literacy with films from the UK and as well introducing Indonesian documentary to the UK audience. This exchange can become a vessel for the UK government's cultural mission in Indonesia, as this is also aligned well with the mission of other festival such as UK/ID festival.

I also want to take my Masterclass program to the latter stages. With the knowledge I gained from my study, I am hoping to create better programs and more sophisticated curriculum in my Masterclass. The next step of this Masterclass is to create film funding program for the best participant's project. This way, the festival can start to create a well-rounded environment on film cycle; production - distribution/exhibition - archiving. This is a beginning to make a sustainable environment for film infrastructure. We have worked with the British Council in the past festivals on different program and I think this Masterclass program can be a good highlight for UK Government in developing film industry in Indonesia.

I also plan to start producing my first feature film. A feature film is not a one-man project. Therefore, I will use all the resources I gained during my study and in network-building to realize my project. I will establish a collaboration with the UK government regarding the production of my feature film. It can be in form of funding, distribution, or exhibition. Producing good films that can be recognized by international community is one of my effort to promote Indonesian cinema to the wider audience.

Teaching is one of my direct contribution to the younger generation in my country. Teaching the promising younger generation film/non-film student is one of a process to keep the film infrastructure running. I want to help the young generation of Indonesian filmmakers to reach their full potential by sharing what I have learned as a Chevening Scholar and a professional.

For my longer term plan, I want to contribute more by popularizing film as one of the tools of education. Currently, my festival holds a collection of films since the beginning of the festival in 2001. I see this archive as a treasure of knowledge that should be accessible by people. Me and my team currently working on the complete data of the films and for limited online preview. Furthermore, I want to create a proper storage as well as access room for this archive.

I am sure that I'm on the right track to achieve my mission to create a sustainable and strong film infrastructure in Indonesia. Chevening scholarship will become a foundation to prepare myself for the challenges in the future, to motivate people to work together in achieving the goals, and create a solid network that will benefited my career and the Chevening community.

it's really well-organized and well structured with aims stated clearly .

@henricuspria
Looks good to me, six paragraphs enclosed in 500 words. Good work, and good luck

Henri, there is a missing requirement in your essay. You mentioned the British Council here but you did not define how you will work with them in the promotion of an advocacy or project on the part of the UK government. You must be specific about that because that is one of the target points of this essay. Your essay will become stronger and more impressive if you can convince the reviewer of the importance of this collaboration, then you will have a strong chance of getting the scholarship. Your plans are sound, from the improvement of your masters program, to making your first feature film, these all show a person with a career goal that he plans in achieving. Try to make a smoother transition though, between these plans and your desire to teach the future filmmakers. It does not blend in well with the previous discussions at this point. You don't need a longer term plan to present if it will go beyond 5 years. The 5 year career plan is the standard presentation for masters courses and I think you have that pretty much covered in this essay. You can skip the "longer term" plan.