Alongside the latest film from Garin Nugroho, this year’s films from Indonesia include Melancholy is a Movement, where renowned director Joko Anwar instead becomes the directee: he acts as a fictionalised version of himself, battling creative limbo, in Richard Oh’s deadpan satire of the Indonesian film industry. Ismail Basbeth’s Another Trip to the Moon, which stars Tara Basro, is a no-dialogue film set in a magically surreal cosmos, that comments on the shackles of traditional Javanese society.
Two short films come courtesy of Lucky Kuswandi, whose latest feature film closed last year’s SGIFF, and Jason Iskandar, a participant in this year’s Southeast Asian Film Lab. Kuswandi’s The Fox Exploits the Tiger’s Might looks at the relation of power and sex in two pre-teen boys, while Iskandar’s The Day the Sky Roared is an atmospheric yet tense piece about a Chinese-Indonesian mother facing the May 1998 riots.
1. Melancholy is a Movement*
28 Nov, Sat / 2:00pm / National Gallery Singapore
*Filmmaker in Attendance
This deadpan comedy spoofing Indonesia’s hypocritical film industry is not only entertaining, but is also a timely observation of the absurdist cycle of life. Starring filmmaker Joko Anwar as a fictionalised version of himself, one who is lost, disillusioned, and stuck in creative limbo. A meeting with a film producer eventually led to his latest film, an absurdist, existential drama set in heaven. But despite the film’s commercial success, the aching melancholy and aimlessness still resides within him.
2. Another Trip to the Moon
29 Nov, Sun / 11:00am / National Gallery Singapore
Set in a magically surreal cosmos, Another Trip to the Moon starts with Asa (Tara Basro) and a girlfriend’s idyllic life in this primitive universe, until an ominous bolt of lightning strikes Asa’s girlfriend. As Asa’s mother mutters incantations to bring her daughter home, the film’s emerald landscape is replaced with a classical Javanese house. While Asa appears to have settled down, she innately struggles to free herself from the shackles of a traditional mother and the conventions of society. This is the debut feature from director Ismail Basbeth, a graduate of the Berlinale Talent Campus.
3. The Hijra
2 Dec, Wed / 7:00PM / National Gallery Singapore*
*Filmmaker in Attendance
From one of Indonesia’s most acclaimed filmmakers is The Hijra, a well-crafted biopic of H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto, an Indonesian nationalist who is much better known in his native land. The film effectively ditches the usual civil tirades associated with political films but focuses instead on the enigmatic Tjokroaminoto, who, not unlike the canon of self-sacrificial heroes, chooses to give up a life of relative comfort as a civil servant of the Dutch government to pursue the holy cause of using Islam as a political entity, so as to challenge the administration and reclaim power for the people.
4. A Special Visit
1 Dec, Tue / 7:00PM / The Substation
Part of Imagine’s Asian Shorts Programme 2, A Special Visit is about a surreal encounter that takes place when a woman visits her favourite pet pig.
5. Last Night Our Daughter Came Back Home
4 Dec, Fri / 9:30pm / National Gallery Singapore*
*Filmmakers in Attendance
In this short film, part of Programme 2 of the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, a mother waits patiently for her daughter to return, who has not been back since she left home. Her longing ultimately brings upon the shadows and memories of her daughter.
6. The Fox Exploits the Tiger’s Might
5 Dec, Sat / 2:00pm / National Gallery Singapore*
*Filmmakers in Attendance
Filmmaker Lucky Kuswandi, whose film closed last year’s SGIFF, returns to the Festival with his latest short film, about two pre-teen boys who discover the relation between power and sex amid their burgeoning sexuality. This short film competed in the Semaine de la Critique Section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
7. The Day the Sky Roared
5 Dec, Sat / 2:00pm / National Gallery Singapore*
*Filmmakers in Attendance
In this atmospheric yet tense piece, a single Chinese-Indonesian mother struggles to save her family during the mass riot of May 1998. This short film marks director Jason Iskandar’s second consecutive year of competing in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition; he is also a participant of this year’s Southeast Asian Film Lab.