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Film and Society

Questioning Film Nasional

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National cinema in Indonesia is called "film nasional", and commonly appears in commentary, scholarship, and discussions of film and the film industry. One of its ambitions is to be "tuan di rumah sendiri" or "master in one’s own house", meaning that Indonesian films should become prolific and popular enough to beat imported films at the box-office.
FocusInternational
·33 mins read·2045 views

The Slow Death of Cinema in Aceh

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Efforts to reopen movie theaters in Aceh have been met with challenges from religious groups and local authorities. Their usual argument: movie theaters are opposed to the spirit of sharia, which stipulates that men and women should not sit side by side. However, what is foreign to Aceh is not movie theaters. It's their absence.
InternationalWide Angle
·9 mins read·1190 views

Ethics Behind the Look of Silence

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The Look of Silence was celebrated and supported by human rights activists. National Commission on Human Rights even provided a letter of support for the film screenings in Indonesia. The questions are, how could they support a film which exploited its subjects, a film that creates a new stigma against the powerless, a film which has questionable ethics in its making? Is it true that we do not need ethics in our fights for human rights?
InternationalPerspective
·14 mins read·2609 views
ISSN 2477-6130