The Indonesian film industry will be under the spotlight at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival (October 4-13).
A dedicated programme, titled Renaissance of Indonesian Cinema, will comprise six features, one series and five shorts. The selection is designed to highlight prominent Indonesian directors such as Mouly Surya, Kamila Andini and horror maestro Joko Anwar as well as the next generation of filmmakers from the country.
Set to world premiere at the South Korea festival is 24 Hours With Gaspar (2023) by Yosep Anggi Noen, following a detective on a mass slaughter case that involves the government, who goes on the hunt for a human-trafficking crook with links to the disappearance of his childhood friend. The title featured at last year’s Asian Project Market and Yosep is known for 2019 Locarno winner The Science Of Fictions.
Also receiving its world premiere at Busan will be the first two episodes of Netflix series Cigarette Girl by Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah, delving into the life of a woman entwined with the 1960s Indonesian cigarette industry. Andini is one of Indonesia’s leading filmmakers with titles such as Toronto award-winner Yuni and Before, Now & Then, which played in Competition at the Berlinale in 2022.
Further world premieres comprise Ismail Basbeth’s Sara, which navigates the conflicts faced by a transgender woman within her family and community, and Nirartha Bas Diwangkara’s short Where The Wild Frangipanis Grow.
Older titles include Mouly Surya’s What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, which debuted at Sundance in 2013; Joko Anwar’s award-winning 2019 horror Impetigore; Tales of the Otherwords (2016), centred on a 95-year-old grandmother who has lived through tumultuous eras, and coming-of-age story Posesif (2017), directed by Edwin.
The shorts also include Khozy Rizal’s 2023 Cannes title Basri & Salma In A Never-Ending Comedy, M. Reza Fahriyansa’s 2022 Locarno title Dancing Colors, Tumpal Tampubolon’s 2021 Busan winner The Sea Calls For Me and Bayu Prihantoro Filemon’s Vania on Lima Street.
The programme has secured “significant backing” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of Indonesia, meaning directors and actors from each featured film are scheduled to visit Busan and take part in number of events.
Indonesia has recently gained momentum in producing features that have secured international attention, particularly with independent films. Titles are increasingly selected for major film festivals, earning awards, and the domestic market in Indonesia – which has the world’s fourth-largest population – is undergoing expansion due to the rise in screen numbers, with local productions capturing the majority of market share. The country is also bolstering its cultural policies to nurture the film industry’s growth and foster emerging Indonesian filmmakers.
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