The Showman

Filmmaker and entrepreneur Angga Dwimas Sasongko is building Visinema Group a one-stop entertainment house.

- Marella Putri

Indonesia’s film industry has a huge room for growth. The number of Indonesian films produced reached an all-time high of 132 films in 2018 with more making it to box office. Ticket sales of local films jumped from 35 million in 2017 to 52 million in 2018, and there have been more foreign investors coming in to invest in cinemas and film productions.

One company that has been attracting investors is the Visinema Group, particularly with its intellectual property (IP)-focused business model. Founded by one of Indonesia’s youngest and rising directors Angga Dwimas Sasongko, Visinema has transformed from a small production house into a full-ecosystem entertainment and technology company.

Angga started making films back in highschool. After he graduated, to add to his college fee at the University of Indonesia, Angga also worked in the film industry, from doing productions, scouting locations and so on. Finally, in 2008, he decided to build his own production house with a capital of Rp 1 million to rent a garage at his friend’s house in Jati Padang, Jakarta, which was the humble beginning of Visinema. Angga started it with one staff member named Aris Wiyono, who today still works at the company. His first film was titled Hari untuk Amanda with media company PT Media Nusantara Citra. Angga had to sell the script to MNC, who became the owner, distributor, and financier of the film. He saw that such business model wasn't sustainable, since it has unsatisfactory margin and owns no distribution rights or intellectual property rights (IPR).