Himawan Pratista

Himawan Pratista was born in Yogyakarta on March 3, 1974. From the age of five, he started watching movies. He studied at the Atmajaya University Architecture Department, but during college stayed intense watching movies. After graduating from Architecture, besides working, he began to observe the film from classical era until now. Due his extensive knowledge and film references, he was drawn to become a film lecturer who teaches the history of film at the Akademi Komunikasi Indonesia, Yogyakarta since 2003 until now. In 2006, Himawan and his colleagues founded the Montase Film Community. This community published an independent film magazine that has up to 27 editions containing knowledge, articles, information, and movie reviews, both local and abroad. Till now, he has written up to more than 500 film articles and reviews for Montase Bulletins that have now shifted into montasefilm. In 2008, he wrote a film book entitled Memahami Film (Understanding Film), which sorts the art of film into a narrative and cinematic elements. This book became the reference for SMK (High School), TV, Film and Communication Studies all over Indonesia. Since 2013, the Montase Film Community began producing short films, both fiction and documentary. His short film debut, Umbul (fiction / 2013) and Grabag (documentary / 2013) received very good appreciation at various major film festivals in the country. Until now, he has always been involved in all the production of Montase films, as producer, supervisor, scriptwriter, and editor. In 2015, he managed to bring the Montase Film Community into the best film community in Indonesia at the prestigious local film festival, Apresiasi Film Indonesia (AFI) 2015. In 2017, he founded CV. Montase Press which is a special division to publish a book written by members of Montase. His latest book, Understanding Film - Second Edition, has been released in July 2017 and has now entered the second print. The author was also involved as an editor and one of the writer of Compilation Books: Buletin Film Montase Vol 1 - 3 and 30 Film Indonesia Terlaris 2002 - 2018. Montase films also achieved the target in various film festivals throughout the country also international film festival. Until now, he still lives in Yogyakarta, actively teaching, reviewing films, writing books, and producing both fiction and documentaries.