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Rollicking laughter is expected to greet the 4th Jakarta International Video Festival 2009, a contest open to international video makers with all levels of experience, who have submitted entries by today.

The OK Video festival is open to non-narrative videos on the theme of comedy as a form of communication disguised as entertainment. Organizers encourage the use of humor, from parody to sarcasm and satire.

For the first time, Ruangrupa, an artists’ initiative for contemporary visual art, which runs the biannual video festival, has added an award category for Best Video. The winner of the category will be announced on July 28, at the opening of a 12-day exhibition at the National Gallery of Indonesia.

Heavyweight filmmakers are also entering the competition this year, including Anggun Priambodo, a joint winner of Best Director at the MTV Indonesia Music Awards in 2003, who has entered OK Video twice before.

Anggun is a freelance director of video clips and advertisements, and a part-time lecturer at Studio Digital Studio College.

He said he believes that joining a noncommercial program like OK Video, with its exhibition, workshops and discussions, helps in finding new ideas and approaches that are lacking in most commercial audio-visual work. “Commercial works are not used to new ideas. They’re looking for things that most people understand,” he said.

Anggun is also a supporter of the exhibition itself, which he sees as a platform for everyday life experiences to be turned into great, daring creations and sources of inspiration.

Competition newcomer Veronika Kusuma, a film student at Jakarta Arts Institute, is entering a project on video art with two collaborators, short film advocate Lulu Ratna and documentary filmmaker Daniel Rudi. “This is the first time for me and Daniel to make an art video, while Lulu has made several,” she said.

A relative lack of experience may not count against new entrants like Veronika.

According to Ruangrupa director Ade Darmawan, there is a distinction between films and video. “Films are largely dependent on structure and narration, on actors and their acting. Videos basically have no storyline — the focus shifts to digital and sound effects, or to graphic works. You can say that videos are more liberated, more experiment-heavy.”

Ade said that the ideas behind making films and art videos have merged over time, but as video-making promotes innovation in digital technology, it seeks out newer, cooler forms that challenge the boundaries of the medium itself.

This year, the committee has received more than 100 videos. The fight for a slot at the exhibition is tougher this year as there will only be about 50 works on show.

The OK Video initiative was launched in 2003, becoming the first international video festival to be held in Indonesia.

Judges for the competition selection this year include Lisa Bona Rahman, Hikmat Budiman and Aminuddin TH Siregar.

Ade said he thinks there is enough interest in artistic video-making to make it a notable genre, and though OK Video is a competition, it is not just about winning or losing, but “more about artistic attainment.”