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As the Indonesia International Fantastic Film Festival at the Blitzmegaplex in the Grand Indonesia mall came to a close on Sunday night, the audience erupted in cheers when “The Raid,” which is set in Jakarta, came on screen. It was the first time the Indonesian action film by Welsh director Gareth Huw Evans was publicly screened in Indonesia.

As Evans made his exit, a flock of fans cheered him, among them notable film producers and directors including Mira Lesmana, Riri Riza and Joko Anwar.

The 31-year-old director said he woke up that morning feeling nervous but was relieved after the day ended successfully — about 500 viewers filled two theaters.

“The Raid,” tentatively scheduled to be released in local cinemas in March or April next year, has received high marks from foreign film critics after winning the Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

The hype has only grown since Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired distribution rights for “The Raid” in the United States during the Cannes Film Festival. The film will get a Hollywood remake with Linkin Park frontman Mike Shinoda providing the music.

Evans has learned a lot since his first film “Merantau” with martial arts star Iko Uwais in 2009. In “Merantau,” Evans only used the traditional martial art of pencak silat as a cheeky addition to the story of West Sumatra’s tradition of leaving the homeland to seek success. In “The Raid,” Evans also uses martial arts to captivate the audience.

Evans met Iko when he was filming the documentary “Mystic Arts of Indonesia: Pencak Silat” in 2008. Iko was the student of the silat guru that was the subject of Evan’s film — Evans told his wife Maya Barack-Evans, who also serves as his producer, that Iko would be a rising star. A year later, Evans released “Merantau” starring Iko.

“In terms of acting, if you can’t act, you can’t,” said the director. “Iko can act. It’s just a matter of getting him into the right moment.”

In “The Raid,” an elite SWAT team raids a 30-story building in a slum, which is controlled by an influential drug lord. Choreographed by Iko and Yayan Ruhian, the action-packed fighting that ensues features kicks, stabbings, throat-slitting and point-blank gun shots. Along the way, Iko’s character is transformed from a gullible villager in the big city trying to save a girl to a SWAT team member who can take down more than seven men with his bare hands.

After “Merantau,” Evans struggled to make his next film, “Berandal” (“Scamp”), and spent more than a year wrangling with investors who were skeptical about spending $2 million to produce the film. Along the way, Evans decided to start working on “The Raid,” which only required a budget that was half of “Berandal.”

It was a worth while investment. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, ultimately leading Sony Pictures to acquire its US distribution rights. Evans began shooting “The Raid” in May, finishing in late June, after which he rushed to make another film to be submitted at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Before Toronto, I had only a solid two months to finish the post production for ‘The Raid,’ ” he said.

Evans declined to direct the Hollywood incarnation of “The Raid” because he feels he has already played his part by completing his version of the film. Consequently, he assumed the role of executive producer and promised he would give the new director complete freedom to remake it.

“I think what the film needed is a fresh mind to see if there’s more in the story to develop,” he said.

For Evans, winning recognition at big international film festivals has been critical to his career, and he believes continuing to participate will ultimately be beneficial in the future, despite the risks.

“It’s a very risky way to promote though, because if we get bad reviews, we need to find a way to sweep it out.” he said.

Because the market is unpredictable, Evans still thinks festivals are the best way to promote his films.

As a filmmaker, he is also worried for the future of Indonesian films, which have not attracted big box-office sales since “Laskar Pelangi” (“Rainbow Troops) in 2008.

“After ‘Laskar Pelangi,’ everyone was excited because we thought the market was there,” he said.

But as Evans has learned, good reviews don’t always translate into a large audience in Indonesian film market.

Evans grew up watching martial arts films with his father, a computer science teacher who is also a fan of the genre. As a boy, Evans was fascinated by Bruce Lee, and he and friends would reenact martial arts scenes from the movies in his backyard.

“We didn’t have a camera, so I’m glad there’s no evidence of that,” Evans said, laughing. “But at that point, I knew I was not good at acting.”

In college, Evans explored other aspects of filmmaking as a script writing major at the University of Glamorgan in Wales in 2003. He made a Japanese short film entitled “Samurai Monogatan” because martial art films were enjoying a resurgence.

As a child, Evans never actually thought he would grow up to make action films, yet now he is looking forward to directing “Berandal,” which he expects to begin shooting in mid-2012.

While “The Raid” progresses at a medium pace, “Berandal” will dive full speed into the action, with a “shocking” opening and nonstop action during the last 45 minutes of the film. He will also team up with Iko in his next movie.

After four years of working together, Evans, Iko and Yayan have built a strong rapport. Evans said he had finally learned to work with Iko in basic Indonesian, something he could not do while filming “Merantau.”

In the future, Evans said he also hopes to direct non-martial arts films, including dramas and musicals. “If there’s something I don’t want to do, it’s a comedy film,” he said. “I cannot imagine sitting during the premiere and hearing no one laughing.”