Literacy amidst Ignorance: Anton Solihin and Batu Api Library, as observed by pye siregar
My project focuses on filming Anton Solihin, the owner and caretaker of Batu Api Library. Batu Api is a private library located in Jatinangor, an educational area approximately 26 miles from Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, Indonesia. Since its founding on April 1, 1999, Batu Api has amassed thousands of books, documents, films, musical recordings, and newspaper clippings related to Indonesia. Anton and Batu Api would provide interesting stories about the side of Indonesia that many people, in the U.S. and even in Indonesia, might not be aware of. The story may not have a direct connection to daily life in the U.S., but it has most likely been shaped, influenced, and affected by U.S.-sponsored globalization. An audio-visual medium will capture not only Anton as the caretaker of the place, but also the library's physical structure and its collections, offering a glimpse of its daily activities. This project would provide research institutions in the United States with opportunities to gain diverse perspectives on Indonesia. The materials Anton collected are likely not available elsewhere and offer an exciting perspective on many aspects of contemporary Indonesia, as well as possibilities for a new research direction.
Description of Materials
Anton Solihin is an interesting person. As the owner and caretaker of Batu Api library, a small library in Jatinangor, West Java, Indonesia, he is known for his unique taste and character. Batu Api, established on April 1, 1999, has been a haven for university students studying in Jatinangor—an educational area with four universities and a combined student population of no less than 10,000—to find and check out books. In a country that ranks lowest in literacy statistics, owning and operating a private library in Indonesia can be considered a determined and tenacious act, if not a bit crazy.
I directed a documentary, Literacy amidst Ignorance: Anton Solihin and Batu Api Library (runtime: 73 minutes), for my UC Berkeley CSEAS SEALIVES project 2024, supported by the 2024 AIFIS–Luce Documentary Filmmaker Grants and Culture Hub FSRD ITB. Film, in my opinion, is an excellent medium for capturing Anton's life, as well as the atmosphere and the entirety of the library. The space, the book arrangement, the visitors, and the sound of music that Anton played are a totality that the film represents. Combined with Anton’s voice as he articulates his motivation, the everyday reality of the library, the collections he has curated, and his hopes for the library's future, this documentary aims to bring audiences into the everydayness of someone who cares deeply about literacy. Something that performs so poorly in Indonesia, as the state and public institutions are far from caring.
Interestingly, Anton is motivated by the United States' popular culture and globalization, which have helped spread American cultural objects and ideas to parts of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. From watching movies in film theaters, which were named after the states or cities in the United States, to proudly admitting that rock n’ roll is fundamental to his decision to open a library, Anton proves that the U.S.-sponsored globalization is widespread. Even though Anton has never been to the U.S., in certain ways, the U.S. was coming to him.
However, Indonesia is his passion. He has continuously collected many materials that can help scholars deepen their understanding of his country. Materials that he affectionately compiled: books, newspaper clippings, DVDs, and musical recordings. My hope is that this documentary will not only bring Anton and the story of his library to broader audiences. This documentary will also reveal that in a part of Southeast Asia, specifically in Indonesia, in Jatinangor, West Java, there is an accumulation of knowledge awaiting discovery. Through that discovery, a hope for literacy in Indonesia is beaming.
Grantee Bio
Harifa ‘pye’ Siregar is a faculty member at the Visual Culture Literacy Research Group and head of Culture Hub Moving Image Lab at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology (FSRD ITB), Indonesia. He earned his PhD in Moving Image Studies from Georgia State University. His research focuses on non-theatrical film, film history, and film archives. His dissertation, "Location, Moving Images, and Industrialization: Goodyear’s Documentary, Conquering the Jungle, and Changing Landscape of a Plantation Site," discusses Conquering the Jungle, an industrial film by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 1920 about their plantation in Sumatra and how it affected the site's development, the global rubber market, and the people's historicity, among other things. At FSRD ITB, pye has been actively involved in teaching and researching the related issues of Indonesian contemporary visual and material culture as depicted in film and historical archives.
Questions? Get in touch with pye here: egopye@itb.ac.id