Indonesian Film Culture in 1970s and 1980s Malaysia
The Indonesian film culture of 1970s and 1980s Malaysia is but one example of how cinema can transcend its national-cultural borders by sharing, exchanging and mobilising culture(s).... Read More
Film History
The Other Side of Indonesia: New Order’s Indonesian Exploitation Cinema as Cult Films
Indonesian exploitation films from the 1980s employed subversive and exploitative techniques to struggle against a dominant order. Produced under the New Order Regime, the films positioned their villains and criminals as symbols of the Suharto government.... Read More
Beranak dalam Kubur: Sjumandjaja’s Revisionist Horror
The oddness of Beranak dalam Kubur as an Indonesian horror film materializes as a kind of breakthrough—a revision to the previous Indonesian horror films, especially ones heavily embedded with elements of occult.... Read More
The Feminine Grotesque in Indonesian Horror Films
The feminine grotesque is a central motif in the explosion of Indonesian horror films following the end of the New Order regime (1967-1998). The presentation of female as both monster and victim always implies and is based on the conservative ideology, i.e patriarchal society.... Read More
Questioning Film Nasional
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.... Read More
Alternative Histories of Indonesian Cinema
Is it true that the movement of Indonesian cinema culture only goes up and down in the box-office rankings, but does not expand to the whole archipelago?... Read More
A Fragmented History: Short Films in Indonesia
The period of 1999 to 2004 was a golden period for Indonesian short films. The growth of myriad film communities and cine-clubs, ignited by technological breakthroughs and social upheavals, helped spur the spirit of Indonesian short films. And the Indonesian films in general.... Read More
An Ode to Celluloid
Cinema perpetuates histories, including ours. Unfortunately cinema as a storage medium, in any format, have a finite lifespan. Someday we might have trouble accessing our own memories.... Read More