This year’s guest country of the festival is Indonesia! This program presents stories of heritage and change. Each film opens an intimate dialogue between different generations. We hope that through friendship, family, identity, beliefs and expectations you will feel the love in the air, and in the friction experienced by the characters you will discover a piece of yourself and a shared cultural memory that transcends geographical boundaries. Despite linguistic differences, the universal language of compassion does not always require understanding. It is enough to feel it.
The silence of queer voices and dreams of a better nation become a gentle rebellion, reclaiming the right to our bodies and identities, which were previously defined by others. Hope for change is sometimes awakened by listening and noticing what is left unsaid. The films collected in this program become a cinematic dialogue about the formation of identity not only from what we have inherited, but also from what we choose ourselves. This is more than postcolonial or transitional identities, it is a conscious choice to bring new values into the future; a newly rethought meaning of family, faith, freedom.
The Indonesian film program is presented in collaboration with the Bali International Short Film Festival Minikino Film Week and was prepared by the festival's program manager, Fransiska Prihadi.
FILMS
My Therapist Said, I Am Full of Sadness
Dir. Monica Vanesa Tedja / documentary / Indonesia / 2024 / 22 min.
During three years of therapy, the director raises the question of what it means to be loved and fully accepted, and seeks the answer by combining archival footage from her two families: an Indonesian, devout Christian biological family and a queer family she adopted in Berlin.
I Am A Flower
Dir. Ariel Victor Arthanto / animation / Germany, Indonesia / 2024 / 13 min.
Before finally turning into a flower, queer artist Sam spends his last day at a luxurious spa with his mother.
NO!!! / NO!!!
Dir. Oktania Hamdani, Winner Wijaya / feature / Indonesia / 2024 / 8 min.
Sekar is planning to marry his girlfriend in an online game. Suddenly, she gets a call from her mother who wants to introduce her to someone...
When The Blues Goes Marching In
Dir. Beny Kristia / experimental / Indonesia / 2025 / 13 min.
A boy tells his father about a dream he had the night before about demonstrations, anger, and a university graduation ceremony.
Hear the Ping Pong Sing / Hear the Ping Pong Sing
Dir. Andrew Kose / feature / Indonesia / 2024 / 18 min.
Six-year-old Kaitlin lives with her parents constantly arguing in a dialect she doesn't understand. She tries to make sense of what's going on in her life by listening to the rhythmic whirring of a ping-pong ball.
Samu the Terrible and His Sin
Dir. Dhiwangkara Seta / feature / Indonesia / 2023 / 18 min.
A lone marine science student draws strength from the freshwater kingdom and sets out to take revenge on his enemies.