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Film and Society

National Superheroes Out of Work: Dealing with Indonesia’s Colonial Legacy through the Cinematic Superhero

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Joko Anwar's Gundala (2019) marked the start of a cinematic universe in which superheroes from the Indonesian Bumilangit comics are translated to the big screen. Intriguingly, this trend has been reflected playfully yet thoughtfully years before in Wimar Herdanto's Gundah Gundala (2013), an independent production, in which local superheroes struggle to make a living amid the arrival of global superheroes in Indonesia.
InternationalPerspective
·9 mins read·662 views

Measuring the Heartbeat of Indonesian Film Industry

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A number of intriguing phenomena can be observed in Indonesian film development throughout 2017. In terms of several indicators, such as the number of screens and audience, our cinematic landscape has grown. The number of films circulated in 2017, however, has seen a decline, albeit in an insignificant magnitude, when compared to 2016. Furthermore, if we see the decline of film circulation in 2017 in terms of audience segmentation, we could interpret the data positively.
FocusInternational
·13 mins read·2434 views

Film Projectionist at the End of the Reel

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Sudewo, 54, has been a projectionist for 29 years, since the Keong Emas IMAX Theater was still under preparation. Established in 1984, Keong Emas was the largest theater in Southeast Asia in the 1980s with its 840 seats. During those years, Keong Emas was the darling and pride of Jakartans.
InternationalWide Angle
·3 mins read·448 views

Travels and Travails: Cosmopolitan Muslims in Indonesian Cinema

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What happens when Indonesian Muslim characters are placed in non-Muslim countries and must engage in struggles over their faith? A recent trend in Islamic feature films sees the main protagonist(s) travel overseas to a non-Muslim country. How the characters negotiate the cultural differences reveals clues as to the emerging identity and politics of the Muslim middle class.
InternationalPerspective
·11 mins read·1730 views
ISSN 2477-6130