Since the first time we arrived in Florence, I've been thinking of how to promote Indonesia. Unlike in the Netherlands where number of Indonesians are large, Indonesians are only about 200 to 250 people in Italy. Once I attended a simple Indonesian bazaar organized by a cultural foundation founded by an Indonesian friend who lives in Rotterdam to celebrate Indonesian independence day and to promote Indonesian culture. Two foundations were involved in organizing the whole event which took place in a good size of a hall for about 250 people in Rotterdam. It was a family bazaar with a bit of Dutch 'gezelligheid', the bazaar inspired me to have the same event in Florence. Unlike in Netherlands, however, as I went around and gathered information, I found more obstacles and more challenges to do so.
However, when we came back from our summer holiday last year. I heard from Malina, that she and her husband have organized a festival of Indonesian Cinema in Florence in continuation with the one they held in Pietrasanta. The organization was done by Malina and her husband, an Italian lawyer, the poster was designed by Erlinda, an Indonesian student who studied design in Florence. I was so excited about this event, finally, we had this opportunity to make Indonesia more recognized and pop-up in Italy. Thank you to Jacopo and Malina for their hard-work and the Ambassador of Indonesia for Vatican City for their supports in making the Festival of Indonesian Film a successful event.