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The Teng Chun

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Teng Chun was a very important person in the history of movies. He was a film producer who helped build a movie industry in Indonesia. He was born on June 18, 1902, in Batavia. This city is known today as Jakarta. His father was a wealthy businessman named The Kim Ie. Even though his father wanted him to work in business, Teng Chun loved movies. He wanted to tell stories on the big screen.

JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50
JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50

Making movies is a big job with many different steps. Teng Chun did almost every part of the work himself. He acted as a producer, a director, and a writer. He even worked as a cinematographer, which is a person who operates the camera. He also worked as a sound editor to help the movies make noise. In his studio, his family helped him with these hard jobs. His brother Teng Liong handled the sound. His sister Teng Hwie worked as a cameraman.

JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50
JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50

Teng Chun learned his craft in a very special way. He went to the United States to study economics in 1920. However, he also studied filmmaking at the Palmer Play Theater. He met a student there named Fred Young. They would work together on movies later in life. After his studies, Teng Chun went to Shanghai in China. He worked there to help move films from China to the Indies. This gave him even more experience before he returned home in 1930.

In 1930, he started a company called Cino Motion Picture. Later, he changed the name to Java Industrial Film, or JIF. Between 1933 and 1935, he made almost every feature film in the country. Many of these stories were about Chinese myths or martial arts. One famous film he made was Sam Pek Eng Tay in 1931. He also made Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang in 1931. This was one of the first talkies, or movies with sound, in his land. Throughout his whole career, he released at least 34 different films.

JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50
JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50

Teng Chun's life changed as the world changed around him. His studio, JIF, closed in 1942 during the Japanese occupation. Later, he and Fred Young started a new company called Bintang Soerabaja. This company made movies until 1962. After he stopped making films, he became an English teacher. He even changed his name to Tahjar Ederis in 1967. He died in Jakarta on February 25, 1977. Right before he died, the governor gave him a special award for his work.

JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50
JIF logo, Star Magazine 2.20 (August 1940), p50
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