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INDONESIAN FILM PROJECT
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adai Selatan (Southern Storm), directed by female director Sofia WD, was the first Indonesian film ever screened in international film festival, in the Official Competition of Berlin International Film Festival 1962. It takes more than 20 years before another Indonesian film participated in prestigious film festival, when Tjoet Nja’ Dhien, directed by Eros Djarot, was chosen as part of Critic’s Week line up in Cannes Film Festival 1988. The following year, 3 Indonesian films were screened in Forum section of Berlin International Film Festival 1989, i.e. Ayahku (The Father, directed by Agus Elias), Nagabonar (directed by M.T. Risjaf), and Roro Mendut (directed by Ami Priyono). From 1996 to 2006, films made and produced by Garin Nugroho, such as Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (… And the Moon Dances), Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on a Pillow), Aku Ingin Menciummu Sekali Saja (The Bird-Man Tale), Serambi, and Opera Jawa (Requiem from Java), were selected for screenings in Berlin, Cannes, Venice, and hundreds other international film festivals. In 2004, the first Indonesian short film was selected to compete in Director’s Fortnight section in Cannes, and the film was Kara, directed by Edwin. Since then, Indonesian films in various genres and formats have never been absent from participating in international film festivals in Asia, Europe and the United States. This year, Marlina The Murderer in Four Acts, directed by Mouly Surya, is competing in Director’s Fortnight section, Cannes Film Festival. Mouly Surya’s previous film, What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, was selected in World Dramatic Com3
petition in Sundance Film Festival 2013. Majority of Indonesian films screened in international film festivals are co-productions with foreign companies and film institutions. The partnership generally begins with an idea, or a film project. This year, Indonesian Cinema Pavilion brings 8 film projects from reputable Indonesian filmmakers. Each of these projects carries potential opportunities for funding support and international partnership. Two proposals are the selected proposals from the partnership of Torino Film Lab and BEKRAF (Indonesian Creative Economy Agency). The rest of the proposals are recommendations from APROFI (Indonesian Motion Picture Producer Association) and BEKRAF. The two proposals from TorinoFilmLab are feature length debut from the filmmakers. The other proposal was from Wregas Bhanuteja, whose short film Prenjak won Best Short Film in Critic’s Week, Cannes Film Festival 2016. The other film projects are proposed by producers and directors whose previous feature films have been screened in various film festivals in Indonesia and worldwide.
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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY Selected to FeatureLab 2017 TorinoFilmLab Genre Drama / Format HD / Est Running time 100 mins / Producer Yulia Evina Bhara / Writer & Director Makbul Mubarak / Production Company KawanKawan Film / Status in Development / Budget 225,000 EUR / Funds secured 10,000 EUR
SYNOPSIS
Soon after his retirement, General Purna decides to move back to his village that he hasn’t visited in 30 years. Thinking that he deserves some recognition for his excellent career, General Purna is startled that the village has changed a lot and nearly nobody recognize him anymore. With the help of his daughter, General Purna has a plan to promote the importance of himself to the people by making a film. 5
General Purna invites two filmmakers from Jakarta to come to his village to work on the film. The filmmakers, during their development research, befriend a local young man named Rakib, who is busy wandering around the village to hunt for the wild boars that have been disturbing his corn farm. The filmmakers often ask Rakib to show them places and to be a stand in for the research photos. One night during a presentation, General Purna becomes curious about who is the young man in the photos. He asks the filmmakers to invite Rakib for dinner the next day. General Purna is very happy to meet Rakib. He thinks Rakib is physically very similar him when he was young. He even wants Rakib to star as him in the film they are making. The filmmakers are not keen on the idea of casting Rakib, for the reason that Rakib is not an actor. His acting is horrible. But General Purna has the final say. The General will train Rakib himself because he wants Rakib to be exactly like him. General Purna trains Rakib in a military way. General Purna thinks that in order for Rakib to portray him well, Rakib must possess the ability to think like a soldier. General Purna wants Rakib not only to resemble him, but to be exactly like him. General Purna doesn’t realize that the society has changed, it is now impossible for him to control everybody like the way he could do in his glorious past.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The Autobiography is a story about an old general who has to deal with the changing society of contemporary Indonesia. The story of The Autobiography is set in 2006 in Ungaran, a regency in the high plateau of Central Java. The story centers on General Purna, a high-ranked military officer who has just retired from his position and decides to move back to the village 6
that he left 20 years before. Upon arriving in the village, he notices that something is not as it used to be. The society has changed. Young people don’t recognize him anymore. He finds this strange because he used to be a very important figure. He lost something that he thinks is very important: power. Therefore, he has to do something to restore his power. During the New Order Dictatorship (1965-1998), Indonesian military had a powerful influence in Indonesian society. The state gave the right for the military not only to control the aspect of national defense, but also a right to intervene the daily life of the civilians. This policy was called “Dwifungsi ABRI” (The Double Function of the Military). Since the Reformation in 1998, this function has been disabled. I studied political science back in the college in Yogyakarta. It was the time when I talked to many people about what it felt like to live under the dictatorship. From talking to these people, I got to know that the New Order regime used fear to gain obedience from its citizens, that the military stood above the law. Although the system has been changing since the fall of the dictator Soeharto in 1998, the military stays the same. They are still in control of the most strategic positions in economy and politics hence are still hugely influential for the public affairs today. I believe that dictatorship is perpetuated not only by the dictators, but also by the citizens under it. Once the dictator falls, the citizens start the change in their own way. Some are happy because they are finally free, some are longing for the old days because they love to be controlled. A post-dictatorship society is very complex and through this film, I strive to capture that complexity. I find this film crucial to make because the story about dictatorship in Indonesian cinema is very rarely explored as a power play. In our local films, stories about dictatorship usually center on an ideal portrait of 7
a national military hero, therefore a propaganda. These films usually promote the grand narrative. For me, the grand background is much more important. DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY The Dog’s Lullaby (2015, 10 minutes), The Plague (2016, 15 minutes), The Malediction (2016, 27 minutes) PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY Solo, Solitude. (2016, Yosep Anggi Noen, 98 minutes), On the Origin of Fear (2016, Bayu Prihantoro Filemon, 15 minutes)
CONTACT Yulia Evina Bhara (Producer) Company KawanKawan Film Email
[email protected] Mobile Phone +62 812 8227 5648
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TALE OF THE LAND This project participate in FeatureLab 2017 TorinoFilmLab Genre Drama / Format HD / Est Running time 90 mins / Producer Siska Raharja / Writer & Director Loeloe Hendra / Co Writer Daud Sumolang / Director of Photograohy Fahrul Ayunki Hikmawan / Post Production Supervisor Andhy Pulung / Editor Mamad Fesdi Anggoro / Line Producer Rini Atmojo / Production Company Elora Production / Languange Kutai languange with English subtitle / Location Kutai, East Borneo / Status in development / Budget 197,884 EUR / Funds secured 84,394 EUR
LOGLINE A girl who can’t step her foot on the land 9
SYNOPSIS
This is the story about May (15). A girl who faints every time she step her foot on the land. She is a girl from Dayak Apo Kayan ancestry. The land conflict that happened in almost every region of Dayak Tribe in Borneo has made May’s family become the victim. Her parent died in front of her when she was just a child. Since she was 5 years old, May was raised by Tuha (60), a fisherman. They live in a floating house on the lake, isolated from other population. Their hometown land was turned into coal mining site and palm oil plantation. When the conflict happened, Tuha was exiled because he was considered as a rebel in the conflict. He had to leave his family and lost his land. On the floating house, Tuha often tells stories about the land and everything that happened in the region to May. On the edge of the lake, sometimes she meets a young herder boy. He is Lawa (15), a son of Dayak Ot Danum ancestry who often mocks her. May grows up with the trauma that haunts her life. Her curiosity upon the land makes May for several times tries to step her foot on the land. However, she always fails and falls unconscious. Until one day, Tuha gets sick. Tuha tells May that when he dies he wants his body to be burried in the water. May keeps the will. At the same time a young man called Abang (30) comes to the floating house. He is Tuha’s son that separated from him when the conflict happened in the past. Abang invite Tuha to leave the place. May hates Abang because he wants to separate her from Tuha. Abang’s arrival evokes a conflict between them. Abang insists to have Tuha’s body buried in the land. A place beyond May’s reach.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The film is located in Borneo, Indonesia, where land conflict still happens today. The conflict emerges from forest exploitation and transition of traditional land into 10
mines or palm oil plantation. For the capitalist, Borneo is the source of natural resources to exploit. However, for the natives, like The Dayak tribe, the land and the forest are source of their living and “mothers” for them. But now most of Dayak Tribe is no longer able to live freely on their land. Desecration upon the land happened when the land is no longer seen as spiritual mother, but as an object of exploitation. Land is the womb or mother for the human, their courage upon defending the land as the place where they live as a man defending his mother. Land is the identity of a community. Without land, human won’t be able to define his existence. History of a nation is written according to how they treat their land, due to the rise and fall of human civilization originated from their problems with the land. The film wants to show how far the relationship can go between people and the land. Redefining the land as the living and dying space with all of the interests that lay in between. The books of Abrahamic religions tell story about how human is created from dust derived from the land as its origin. Then, what if the human can’t live on the land? What if we (humans) live in the world of great lands but we can’t set our foot on it? Tale of the Land is a story about human memories and emotions. About the anxiety and fear of something in life, love, helplessness and frustration. Something that describes the ambiguity of the actual human condition. DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY Tigu (Egg), Short Film, 2017 (Director & Writer), Lost Wonders, Short Film, 2015 (Director & Writer), Onomastika, Short Film, 2014 (Director & Writer), Toilet, Short Film, 2011 (Director & Writer), I an Not Ismael, Short Film, 2009 (Director & Writer) 11
PRODUCER’S FILMOGRAPHY Tigu (Egg), Director Loeloe Hendra, Short Film, 2017 (Producer), Flowers in the Wall, Director Eden Junjung, Short Film, 2017 (Producer), Lost Wonders, Director Loeloe Hendra, Short Film, 2015 (Producer)
CONTACT Siska Raharja (Producer) Company Elora Production Email
[email protected] Mobile Phone +62 818 0261 7055
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YUNI Original Title Yuni / English Title Yuni / Genre Drama / Format HD / Est Running Time 90 mins / Producer Ifa Isfansyah/ Writer & Director Kamila Andini / Production Company Fourcolours Films / Status in Development / Budget 220,000 USD / Funds Secured 90,000 USD
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LOGLINE Yuni is a teenage girl with big city dreams, yet she is stuck in a small village offering her limited options: to work as a factory worker, a migrant worker, or a teacher. However, even before she graduates high school, two men ask her hand in marriage. “It’s forbidden to reject proposals more than twice,” people say, until the third man comes. SYNOPSIS
Yuni is a sixteen-year-old teenage girl living in a small village surrounded by factories and beaches. The time she reaches twelfth grade is the time when she has to contemplate what to do after graduation. Studying in a big city has been her lifelong dream, but it seems that she doesn’t have the privilege since almost all girls there become factory workers, migrant workers, teachers, or housemaids in Jakarta. That’s why it’s hard for Yuni to think about what comes after. There’s only one thing she likes these days, reading poems for the Indonesian Language class at school. Yuni’s quite popular at school. Many boys adore her because her body looks more grown-up compared to girls her age. One of the boys is Yoga, Yuni’s junior who likes to stare at her from afar. This often poises a problem, such as when Yuni’s neighbor’s relative, Iman, comes to the village. A week after he sees Yuni, he comes back with his parents and proposes to her. Yuni’s father and mother, who work in Jakarta as a driver and a maid respectively, decline the proposal because she’s too young. But an old belief says that it’s forbidden to say no three times. Yuni becomes the talk of the village after rejecting Iman. She’s said to decline the blessings that can upgrade her family’s reputation. To the young Yuni, this is harder than determining what to do after graduation. One day Yuni visits her friend, and her friend’s uncle happens to be in the village. Not long after, Uncle Dodi proposes to her. It’s the second time Yuni and her
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parents reject a proposal. They want Yuni to continue her studies, but pressure keeps coming to them. Yuni’s grandmother, who lives with her, wants her to accept either of the proposals. When Yuni has to hear false rumors about her from people talking behind her back every day, she takes her estrangement out on poetry and Yoga. Yoga’s the only person who’s willing to do anything Yuni desires that comes from within her; anything she tells him to. They decide to have a sexual intercourse. The third time comes when Yuni’s Indonesian Language teacher, Mr. Damar, stands in front of the house to propose to her. Under the heavy rain on the day of the wedding and her birthday, Yuni weeps over her destiny.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Nothing is more forbearing than the rain in June, Keeping its longing drops in secret from the flowering tree, Nothing is wiser than the rain in June, Erasing its footprints which hesitate on the streets, Nothing is more thoughtful than the rain in June, Letting the unspoken absorbed by the roots of the tree.
It’s a poem by one of my favorite Indonesian poets, Sapardi Djoko Damono. Yuni is a name for a girl born in June, and this film is my interpretation of the poem. It’s a film about the rain in June, one that hides layers of stories. I asked a maid working at home why she let her daughter, who was just 16 years old, get married. The answer was because she couldn’t handle the pressure in her village. I live in a country where women have a certain position in culture and religion. Social pressure is the biggest reason why women are forced to get married and why they want to marry young. Alienation is everything I want to play with in this 15
story. Yuni’s alienation of her age, her choice and alienation of a village and the dreams dying inside it, all resemble the rain that pours down in the wrong month. In this film, I want to convey the pressure through spoken words that reverberate in quietness. Social pressure making its way in the corner of the house, kitchen, bedroom, village hall, and beach are conversed poetically and intimately. Therefore this film is all about a woman’s intimacy––the feelings, changes, and the “rain” that falls down and washes down many things. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Kamila Andini was born in Jakarta, 6 May 1986 and finished her study of Sociology and Media Arts in Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Her concern of social culture, gender equity and environmental issue leads her passion to make films with a distinctive perspective in telling a story with these issues. In 2011, she received a Young Outstanding Alumni award from Australian government in Indonesia. At the age of 24, she made her first feature film The Mirror Never Lies, which captures the story of Bajau tribe, the sea gypsies in Indonesian ocean. This film is co-produced with WWF and has traveled to more than 30 film festivals around the world, including Berlinale International Film Festival. More than that, the film also received numerous awards including Earth Grand Prix for best environmental film at Tokyo International Film Festival, FIPRESCI award, from International Federation Film Critics at Hong Kong International Film Festival, and Best Children Film at Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Her short film Following Diana, co-produced with HIVOS, has been selected in Toronto International Film Festival. At the moment, Kamila is releasing another short film Memoria about woman survivor in Timor 16
Leste, and also in post-production stage is for her second feature film The Seen and Unseen. This film has received supports of international funding (Hubert Bals Fund, APSA Children Film Gund) and along with this film, Kamila is chosen as the first Indonesian writer/ director at Cinefondation Residency program from Cannes Film Festival.
CONTACT Ifa Isfansyah (Producer) Company Fourcolours Films Email
[email protected] Telephone +62 274 412313 Mobile Phone +62 812 2720 911
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THE SCIENCE OF FICTIONS Genre Drama / Format HD / Est Running Time 120 mins / Producer Edwin Nazir, Yulia Evina Bhara / Writer & Director Yosep Anggi Noen / Production Company Angka Sinema/ Status in Pre Production / Budget 335,000 USD / Funds Secured 230,000 USD
LOGLINE Siman, a live witness of a big fraud about man’s landing on the moon. Siman is in mute. Within his silence, he tries to convince the people in the village 18
about what he saw by dancing and putting on astronaut-like outfits. Siman has danced for 40 years. People believe Siman is insane. SYNOPSIS
In the year 1960, America raised several mega projects to compete against the domination of USSR in the Cold War. The biggest American project is The Apollo, to transport mankind to the moon. It is actually a fiction film where the shooting was taken place in Gumuk, the south side of Java Island, Indonesia. Gumuk is actually a field of sand near the beach. The sands are made from sedimentation of the mystical South Sea and the ruins of sulfur hills. One day in 1962, Siman, a quiet man, a solitary farmer, came to Gumuk. There were a lot of people with army style uniforms, protecting a big cube. Siman was witnessing a shooting of a fiction film about man landing on the moon. It was an unlucky day for him, Siman was caught by the army and got his tongue chopped off. Siman survives but he spends the rest of his life in silence. Soekarno, the first president of Republic Indonesia, came to Gumuk, brought with him a Bolex 8mm camera. From the distance, he was recording the activity of film crews and the army. Soekarno was really angry, he approached the film set, and shouted “My nation does not want to be part of this biggest lie”. Siman’s life still continued, under the new regime, A New Order of Soeharto. Siman was then being named as an insane person because he often moves stupidly, acting as if he is walking on the moon, imitating what he saw in Gumuk. In front of his house in the village, Siman built a strange cubical building looking like a robotic machine that he saw in the sands. Siman also designed an astronaut costume, and also always uses a white helmet every time he goes out of his house, even to the rice field. All the villagers agree that Siman is insane, but what he does is actually true to himself, and 19
this is the only way he knows how to show the truth. He is the only one who knew about the world’s biggest lie. He cannot read nor write. He moves, he dances as if he is dancing on the moon. Siman has been dancing for 40 years.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT I feel challenged to make my own version of a science-fiction film. My intention is to find possibilities of making a cheap science-fiction, something close to my reality and enigmatic. History is to be written by the winner, as said by an old proverb. But in this digital era, history can be written by anyone. I am about to give alternative fiction stories from my nations history. The most fictional era in Indonesia was the time when Soekarno, the first president, was replaced by Soeharto in a coup. Nobody knew about the real situation, or you could say the truth at the time. All will look empirical; all the stories from many sources will make us drown into all that is fiction. Repeated lies, confronted with other lies will lead to the understanding of truth. This film is like a laboratory that enables us to study a number of things by producing a moment of discovery. Using choreographed movements, the actor shows that he is a person walking on the moon, he is free, as it appears, from the forces of gravity. He wears an astronaut suit, a mock, village version that is obviously home made. The set to be built is a work of architecture that resembles a space ship, made of wood and certain to attract attention, whether within the visualized space of the film or outside, in real life. My choice of creative direction for the scene is based on visual experiences in my everyday life, often 20
strange experiences. I have seen a few people with dissonant, clashing outfits, who nonetheless appear self-confident. I often pass cars that have been modified so hideously that deep in my heart I am sure of the owner’s stupidity. Yet I also feel these people fully believe in themselves, possessing a logic that could very well be the basis of a kind of truth. This is not just imagination or empty self-confidence. Perhaps at times people who make “visual decisions” that seem strange to others are trying very hard to reveal themselves, fighting against the time in which they live. They want to be seen as whole people with pieced-together identities. These are contradictions they struggle to reconcile. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Yosep Anggi Noen studied Communications of Socio-Politics Faculty of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was selected to participate in Asian Film Academy in Busan. Anggi has made short films and documentaries. He manages Limaenam Films, an independent production company in Yogyakarta. Anggi attended and participated in Berlinale Talents in 2014. Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses is his first feature film, supported by Hubert Bals Fund, was premiered in competition of Festival Film del Locarno 2012 and received Special Mention Dragon and Tiger Award for Young Cinema in Vancouver International Film Festival 2012. This feature film has traveled in 20 festivals worldwide and received 2 national awards from Ministry of Education and Culture Indonesia. His short A Lady Caddy Who Never Saw a Hole in One won best short film at Busan International Film Festival 2013 and Grand Prix at Tokyo Short Short Film Festival & Asia 2014. Genre Sub Genre is his experimental short film screened in International Film Festival Rotterdam, 21
Jeonju International Film Festival, Seoul Mediacity and got Jury Prize in Arkipel International Experimental and Documentary Festival 2014. His second feature length film, Solo, Solitude., had its world premiere in Locarno International Film Festival 2016. The film managed to get more than 50,000 ticket admissions when released in cinemas across Indonesia, a big hit for a micro art-house film.
CONTACT Company Angka Sinema Yulia Evina Bhara (Producer) Email
[email protected] Mobile Phone +62 812 8227 5648 Edwin Nasir (Producer) Email
[email protected] Mobile Phone +62 811 1190 105
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HUMBA DREAMS Genre Drama / Est Running Time 85 mins / Producer Mira Lesmana / Writer & Director Riri Riza / Production Company Miles / Status in Pre Production / Budget 400,000 EUR Looking for Co-Producer, International Sales Agent STORY PREMISE A young and restless film student in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, is called back home to his village in the island of Humba. Apparently, his late father left him an exposed roll of celluloid film. While finding ways to develop the footage, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. DIRECTOR’S NOTE All our lives, we collect stories and keep them in our heads and minds. If we are lucky, there will be time when these stories come back to us and we get a chance to put it in writing and add new thoughts. This is how I started writing Humba Dreams, it’s out of my memories I have of Humba and it grows naturally into a story of a young man’s journey. This film for me is about everything that we can touch like celuloid films, books, old records and photographs for too many things in this digital era now are easily recorded, shared and quickly forgotten. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Riri Riza is Indonesian screenwriter/director of Miles Films Jakarta, Indonesia. He directed art house Indo23
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nesian films such as Eliana, Eliana, 3 Days To Forever and Atambua 39o Celsius, and also box office hits like The Rainbow Troops and What’s With Love 2. His films have been invited to festivals such as Berlinale, Tokyo, Busan, Rotterdam, Vancouver and many other festivals around the world and received numerous awards. His recent feature Athirah won 6 awards in Indonesian Film Festival including Best Screenplay and Best Director. Riri teaches film directing in his former school Jakarta Institute of the Arts.
CONTACT Mira Lesmana (Producer) Company Miles Films Email miralesmana.miles@gmail. com Telephone +62 21 7378824 Mobile Phone +62 811 936 044
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AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE A part of development project at Next Step Lab, France 2016 Genre Drama / Est Running Time 97 mins / Producer Mira Lesmana / Writer & Director Wregas Bhanuteja (First featured film) / Production Company Miles Films / Status in Development / Budget 600,000 EUR Looking for Co-Producer, International Sales Agent STORY PREMISE A young woman, in debt and under threat, tries to make some quick cash by becoming a film extra. Once there, she finds herself surrounded by the bizarre underdogs of the film set crew, which further complicates her situation. DIRECTOR’S NOTE After directing 5 short films, I feel ready to work on my first feature film. I have decided to tell a story that is close to me, something that I am familiar with. So the inspiration of this film is coming from my own experience and interaction with a film shoot. When I first work in the film industry in Indonesia, I joined a film production as a 3rd AD (Assistant Director). One of the job descriptions of the 3rd AD is dealing with the extras. Later on, I become the behindthe-scene video director, in which I did filming and interviewing the crew during the whole film shoot. I became close to the environment of the extras and also the ‘second layer’ film crew. I began to know their background and their motivation to become extras and production crew. I find their stories fascinating. 26
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Film is an artistic medium to tell a story, but behind it, there are compelling stories of human survival. Film is known as a glamorous world, full of glitter, but not all of the glitter is gold. This is what An Extraordinary Life is about. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Wregas Bhanuteja was born in Jakarta, 20 October 1992. Although he grew up in Yogyakarta, Wregas came back to Jakarta to study film at Jakarta Institute Of The Arts, majoring in film direction. Wregas was very productive during his film school years, making short film almost every semester. His short film, Lembusura (2014), was selected at Berlinale Shorts Competition - 65th Berlin International Film Festival 2015. And his most talk about short film last year, Prenjak/ In The Year of Monkey (2015), won numerous awards, including the prestigious Leica Cine Discovery Prize for best short film in 55th Semaine de la Critique, Cannes 2016. Wregas is now ready to embark on his new journey, writing and directing An Extra Ordinary Life as his most anticipated first feature film debut.
CONTACT Mira Lesmana (Producer) Company Miles Films Email miralesmana.miles@gmail. com Telephone +62 21 7378824 Mobile Phone +62 811 936 044
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THE VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH Based on novel from the same title by Eka Kurniawan
Original Title Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas / English Title Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash / Format 35mm / Est Running Time 90 mins / Executive Producers Nathan Gunawan, WillawatI / Producer Meiske Taurisia, Muhamnmad Zaidy, Lorna Tee / Director Edwin Scriptwriter Eka Kurniawan / Languange Indonesian with English subtitle / Status in Development
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SYNOPSIS
Ajo Kawir has not been able to have an erection since he was a young teenager. At 12, he and his best friend, Tokek, were secretly stalking a young widow named Rona Merah and saw her being raped by two police officers. Tokek managed to escape and hide, but one of the officers captured Ajo Kawir and made him watch again and join them in raping her. Ajo Kawir failed to have an erection, and his penis has never gotten hard ever since. That was the beginning of Ajo Kawir’s violent and youthful energy by getting into fights. One of these encounters leads him to Iteung, a girl with great skills in martial arts which to his suprise, makes them fall in love. Unfortunately, Iteung gets pregnant in an affair. She confesses to her husband and Ajo Kawir is enraged. When her husband walked out on her, Iteung was devastated and regretted. She killed the man, and Iteung went to jail for nine years. When Iteung is finally released, she looks for the two policemen who caused her husband’s problem, and kills them. At home, Ajo Kawir is waiting for her wife. His penis has no problem now. He is sure he can mend his marriage. But when Iteung comes, some police officers are ready to escort her back to prison. Once again, Ajo Kawir’s penis has to wait.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT In this film, I see Indonesia desperately trying to overcome its fear of impotence, its fear of failure to perform. We follow Ajo Kawir’s journey, who became impotent the day he was forced to watch a mentally ill woman being raped by two policemen. To mask his impotence, he made sure no one could have doubted his manliness. The culture of machismo only knows men who cry without tears. When Ajo Jawir felt betrayed by his wife, he became a cowardly fighter. Machismo and patriar30
chal values are still ever present in today’s Indonesia, supposedly a more open-minded and democratic society than the one in Ajo Kawir’s youth. In this film, I would like to encourage people around me to chill on the macho man culture and take it easy with all the desperate efforts to hold on the mythical trophy of manliness. Should we waste time obsessing about the bird (the slang for penis in Indonesian) that can’t get up, while more and more of the same violence still keeps occurring all around us? DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Edwin was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 1978. His latest film, Postcards From The Zoo was nominated for Golden Bear at Berlinale 2012. His first feature Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly received the FIPRESCI Prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2009, and his short film Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon was the first Indonesian film to be shown on the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes 2005. DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY FEATURE FILM Postcards From The Zoo, in competition at Berlinale 2012 (2012); Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, New Currents at Busan International Film Festival 2008 (2008). MID-LENGTH FILM Someone’s Wife In The Boat of Someone’s Husband, Jeonju Digital Project (2013) SHORT FILMS Hortus (2014), Roller Coaster (2010), Nairobi Notes (2009), Hulahoop Soundings (2008), Trip To The Wound (2007), A Very Boring Conversation (2006), Kara The Daughter Of A Tree (2005), Dajang Soembi, 31
The Woman Who Is Married To a Dog (2004), A Very Slow Breakfast (2002) INTERACTIVE MEDIA 17000 Islands, Funded by Norwegian Film Institute, Produced by Thomas Østbye (PLYMSERAFIN) (2013) AWARDS • Edward Yang New Talent Award, 6th Asian Film Awards (2012) • FIRESCI Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, 2009) • NETPAC Award, Taipei Golden Horse International Film Festival (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, 2009 • SILVER Award, Festival 3Continents, Nantes, France (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, 2009) • YOUTH Award, Festival 3Continents, Nantes, France (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, 2009)
CONTACT Meiske Taurisia (Producer) Company Palari Films Email
[email protected] Telephone +62 21 7378824 Mobile Phone +62 812 940 5664
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27 STEPS OF MAY Genre Drama / Format HD / Est Running Time 110 mins / Producers Ravi Bharwani, Rayya Makarim, Wilza Lubis / Director Ravi Bharwani / Scriptwriter Rayya Makarim / Languange Indonesian with English subtitle / Status in Production
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LOGLINE A woman’s desire to make peace with her past through her encounter with a stranger. SYNOPSIS
Eight years ago, 14 year old May was raped by a group of men. May’s father is devastated, blaming himself for not being able to keep his daughter safe. Traumatized significantly by this incident, May withdraws completely from life. She imprisons herself in her father’s house. She blocks out all emotions and constructs a protective bubble around her. While May lives her life without connections, emotions, or words, her father, trapped by feelings of guilt and rage leads a double life. With May, he is a gentle soul who would sacrifice everything to provide comfort and protection for his daughter. But in the boxing ring, he is pure rage; a fighter who fights to channel his rage. Father and daughter have lived this way for 8 years until a stranger, a magician, moves in next door and creates a small crack in May’s carefully erected protective wall. The magician stirs May’s sense of wonder and in doing so awakens her emotions. She becomes brave enough to search and face her once lost feelings, sensations, impressions, and memories. With the help of the magician and props, May re-enacts the rape in order to free herself and move forward.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT My childhood experience of being a Hindu of Indian origin living in a Muslim dominated Indonesia has led me to an on going fascination with the theme of alienation. And as a minority and outsider myself, I long to create a voice and I want it to be heard. I have explored this theme extensively in my previous films; a man’s relentless obsession in The Rainmaker, and a son’s longing for his estranged father’s acceptance on a fishing platform in the middle of the sea in Jermal. 34
This film is how about people are trapped in their own alienation; whether it is to avoid events in their past, like May, or imprisoned by feelings of guilt and rage, like May’s father. I want to capture these seemingly endless cycles and patterns that individuals create in their isolation and witness their struggle and their eventual triumph as they struggle towards liberation. DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Ravi Bharwani graduated from the Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ) in 1990. After directing several commercials, documentaries, short movies and made-forTV movies, he made his feature film The Rainmaker which premiered in Asian New Current, Busan International Film Festival. It was later selected to the Bangkok, Jakarta, Rotterdam, Barcelona,Shanghai, Vladivostok, Cinemanila international film festival. It won the best film in the Asia new talent award in Shanghai, China. Jermal (2009) his second feature, where he worked with two other directors, Rayya Makarim and Utawa Tresno, was selected for screening in Pusan, Rotterdam, Melbourne, Montreal, Vancouver, Edinburgh, Copenhagen and numerous other International film festivals and has received several awards.
CONTACT Wilza Lubis (Producer) Company Green Glow Pictures Email
[email protected] Mobile Phone +62 817 818 967
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bekraf.go.id/indonesiancinema
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