Jus Nanas Kue Lapis
A Sip and a Bite
2022, 20 mins, Indonesian, Color
Produced by Palari Films & Vision+. Courtesy of Vision+
Cast: Yasmina Yesy, Meicy Sitorus, Aidagati Warsito
This film follows a young mother attempting to enjoy a peaceful, aesthetic picnic in the heart of a pine forest. However, her getaway is constantly interrupted by an endless stream of phone calls, video chats, and messages regarding both work and domestic life.
Watch here on Vision+
Steak & Salat
2011, 6 mins, Indonesian, Color
Cast: Maradilla Syachridar, Diandra Galih, Dolly Isnawan
A couple ordering food at a restaurant. A waiter is serving them. What appears is never as wild as their imaginations each other – including a cat that was waiting for food scraps.
Watch here on Viddsee
Sugiharti Halim
2008, 9:20 mins, Indonesian, Color
Cast: Maria Nadia, Hengky Hidayat, Adi Marsiela, Islaminur Pempasa
Sugiharti, is a Chinese Indonesian woman who would love to sell her name for 30 dollars. In fact she would give it away for free, if she could. Call this a black-humour film, but for her, it’s seriously confusing to bear an Indonesian name when she could never be accepted as the ‘real Indonesian’.
Watch here on Viddsee
- Sunshower at Mori Art Museum (Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia from 1980s to Now), 2017, Tokyo, Japan
- Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival 2009 In Competition, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Rotterdam International Film Festival (European Premiere), 2009, Rotterdam, Netherland
- Konfiden Short Film Festival (In Competition), November 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia (Best Film Award, Audience’s Favourite Film Award)
- AURORA, Manipulated Moving Image, November 2008, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Busan International Film Festival (International Premiere), 2008, Busan, South Korea
The Anniversaries
2006, 12 mins, Indonesian, Color
Produced by JiFFest & Salto Films
Cast: Kartika Gunawan, Verdi Solaiman
A portrait of a monotonous relationship of a husband and wife, highlighted through scattered moments of their yearly wedding anniversaries, set in an elevator.
Watch here on Viddsee
- Asian Women Film Festival, 2009, Berlin, Germany
- Europe on Screen, European Film Festival, October 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia
- US-Asean Film Screening, September 2008, Washington DC, USA
- Urban Nomad Festival, 2008, Taipei, Taiwan
- Asian Hot Shot Film Festival, 2008, Berlin, Germany
- Busan International Film Festival (International Premiere), 2007, Busan, South Korea
- Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (Lights of Asia – Competition), Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2007
Still Life
2006, 7 mins, (Indonesian, English, Dutch, French), Color
Co-directed by Hosanna Heinrich
Starring: Fieke Geerts, Melanie Egalon, Hosanna Heinrich, Ariani Darmawan
This video performance is set like a Dutch painting. Four women of different nationalities fighting, literally, over their dignity. In real life, this piece would be called Still Stupidity.
- S-Express Indonesia 2007-2008 (Jakarta International Film Festival 2007, Bangkok Film Festival 2008, 8th Asian Film Symposium Singapore)
- Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (Lights of Asia – Competition), Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2007
- Konfiden Short Film Festival, In Competition, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2006
Anak Naga Beranak Naga
Dragons Beget Dragons
2006, 59 mins, Indonesian, Color, Documentary
Not many people know that Gambang Kromong—once popularised by Lilis Suryani in the 60’s and then by duo Benyamin Sueb – Ida Royani in the 70’s—is an acculturative form of music adapted from various ethnicities in Indonesia. The seeds of the art form date back to the 18th century. The Gambang Kromong melody, of Chinese musical notations, was introduced by the Chinese Indonesian, or Tionghoa Peranakan. Through crossfertilisation with Javanese, Sundanese, and Deli cultures, a harmonious music form emerged which is now known as a specific traditional art form from Jakarta.
Together with its dynamic and engaging narration on the long history of cultural and musical assimilation, this film also describes today’s Chinese-Indonesians as the keepers of a Gambang Kromong musical legacy. Since the 15th century, their families lived in Sunda Kelapa (old Batavia/Jakarta) and had been slowly marginalized socially, economically, and geographically towards the suburban areas. Although most of them hold fast to the ancient Chinese custom, these people remain close, even inseparable, with the locals, thus breaking the stereotype of introverted-rich-Chinese-Indonesian.
Based on the complexity of the Gambang Kromong music itself, this film remarks upon the humanitarian, poetic, musical, and even comical side of a sequestered culture.
Silenced
2004, 6:20 mins, Color
A girl with a book gives the camera a difficult look. What could be the problem?
A lesson in modesty. Or is it perhaps vanity? Or a demonstration of how you can make an intriguing film with minimal means? Maybe a bit of each. A static, uncut shot of a girl with a book. Apparently spied on, but it is the film maker herself, so she must be aware of the filming. Reduced to silence, but why and by whom? There is some music, but apart from that it’s bare. Yes, that’s all you need to intrigue.
- Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, Bangkok, Thailand, 2005
- Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama, Japan, 2005
- “Insomnia” at Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England, 2005
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2005
It’s Almost There
2001, 24 mins, English, Color
This is a story about a seven day journey of a young woman revisiting her homeland, Indonesia. The way she sees her country and society is a reflection of her present state of being. At the beginning of the movie, she presents the question, “Do you know what the form of the world is?” This question ties the whole journey together.
- International Women Film Festival, Seoul, Korea, 2010
- Nominated for Best Short Film ‘Festival Film Indonesia’, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2004
- 4th Asian Film Symposium, Substation, Singapore, 2004
- Indonesia Under Construction, Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2004
- Chicago Asian American Film Festival, Chicago, USA, 2004
- Rencontres Internationales Paris Berlin, France–Germany, 2003–2004
- Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA, 2002
City of Desire
2000, 4:30 mins, English, Color
An interpretation of Italo Calvino’s Zobeide: a tale of a city where the inhabitants constantly build their places upon their dreams… which never comes true. Calvino names it ‘an ugly city’, I call it ‘a reality’.
- “Living Room: Home is Where the Heart is”, Auckland, New Zealand, April 2009
- Rencontres Internationales Madrid, Spain, 2007
- Rencontres Internationales Paris Berlin “About Indonesia”, France–Germany, 2006
- Emirates Film Competition, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2004
- 9th Malaysian Video Awards Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004
