Discoveries from Indonesia World Cinema

A childhood dream of flight lingers into adulthood, reduced to a habit of watching planes pass overhead. As time moves on, wonder gives way to distance. Eventually, he looks away.

Raras is a 16-year-old girl from a broken home who lives with her workaholic father. Due to his nature, the relationship between Raras and her father is strained and disharmonious. As a result, Raras has grown into a withdrawn individual who lacks affection. She also has a boyfriend named Rio, who is significantly older than her. One day, Raras becomes determined to end her relationship with Rio, as she can no longer endure his toxic, dominant, and abusive behavior. Ultimately, this leads to Rio spreading Raras's private photos that were taken and distributed without her knowledge and consent.

Four students majoring in nutrition, Tristan, Denisa, Reno, and Sigit, carried out field research in Kampung Tenung, a remote hamlet. They were allowed to stay overnight in a rickety hut belonging to Mak Summa, an old widow who lives alone with her daughter who was born with a serious mental disorder. Everything turns into a nightmare when Tristan and Reno commit despicable acts against the helpless Nini. This serious violation awakened another side of Mak Summa that had been sleeping for a long time: pure bloodthirsty madness. As a result, the four students were trapped in a deadly terror, fighting desperately to defend their lives from the wrath of a mother who had lost everything, including her sanity.

Mentari, an elderly woman, embarks on a long train ride towards the afterlife. Along the way, she is faced with the memories of her past, forcing her to question whether she is ready to let go of her life or choose to hold on for the sake of her daughter.

An isolated young man finds comfort in getting his hair cut, believing his barber truly understands him. But when he realizes that this connection isn’t his alone, his fragile sense of belonging slowly turns into jealousy.

In Indonesia, East Java's traditional dance known as Reog Ponorogo is a colourful spectacle which draws crowds of revellers. But this ancient custom hides a dark secret of abusive relationships between grown men and young boys. The chief organiser behind the Reog Ponorogo show is a revered man known as the Warok. He is believed to have supernatural abilities, which the Warok can lose should he become involved with a woman. However, the Warok can employ servant boys who learn to keep house, dance and anything else that's demanded of them, including providing sexual favours.

Jovial, a young filmmaker on the verge of directing his first feature, meets his former lover, Kadisya, at a quiet cafe as a steady rain blurs the world outside. He has come to return a weathered box—a collection of relics from their shared past. What begins as careful, lighthearted conversation about their careers, old jokes, and fading dreams soon begins to peel back the layers of a relationship that once left them both emotionally drained. Surrounded by the aroma of coffee, letters that have yellowed with time, and old music albums, they are finally forced to confront the unspoken questions that lingered long after they parted: why they truly let go, and whether the "okay" they claim to be today is a reality or just a mask. That night, amidst the clinking of porcelain and the rhythm of the rain, a small decision made at a cafe table fundamentally shifts how they choose to remember their history.

Puni has loved villages since childhood. To her, villages have everything—food resources and beautiful nature. Yet the people who live there cannot always enjoy that wealth. Whenever Puni visits villages in other countries, she studies what makes them prosperous. She believes that villagers can transform the natural resources around them into something more valuable. In this way, Indonesia’s villages can become prosperous.

Adapted from the West Sulawesi folktale "Vova Sanggayu," this animation tells the story of a grandmother's long wait for the return of her only grandchild.

The King of a Malay kingdom falls gravely ill. Only a mystical geliga from Tasik Pauh Janggi Island can cure him, and so his children set out on a journey to the island to obtain it and save their father.

A college student slowly forms a bond with a mysterious girl he often meets on a bench outside the campus library. But when she suddenly disappears, he is left haunted by the things he never had the courage to say.

When Elang loses a prestigious race, his life becomes increasingly depressed. Until one day, a different version of himself appears to him, offering guidance on how to improve his messed-up lifestyle.

Elang, an orphan who lives with his grandmother, befriends Melati, a tomboyish girl with dreadlocks who is believed to be the incarnation of an ancestor, and Rafi, a spoiled child from a wealthy family. Despite coming from different backgrounds and beliefs, the three must face various challenges and struggles to achieve their dreams and prove what it means to be a true champion.

someone who accidentally sees something strange and then the strange thing follows him

In the midst of a power outage, a family accustomed to being busy with their gadgets is forced to talk to each other again. But a fragile family remains fragile. Problems that have been piling up for a long time finally reach a breaking point that either worsens or ends the situation, depending on their actions.

To respect the fasting month, Dani (18) refrained from eating out by packing food from a warteg. However, two of his boarding house friends accused Dani of having no empathy and took his packet of food. He was forced to endure his hunger in his boarding room, until finally Dani could not endure the hunger and he returned to the warteg. At the warteg, she met her two boarding house friends who had cornered Dani while she was eating at noon.

In his old age, Lazuardi, a former detective who raised a vampire child as atonement for his sins, is faced with the reopening of his old case, while the vampire child started to feel distant.

Naya (25), an influencer known for her image as an environmentalist, started a challenge called 30-Days Zero Waste. One day, she encountered a problem while uploading an endorsement of a fashion brand that turned out to be unsustainable. Pressured by her manager, Saras (27), and tons of hate comments from netizens made Naya confused whether to choose between maintaining her idealism as an environmentalist or continuing her career.

Dom and Tisha, a couple looking to celebrate their first anniversary, invite their close friends to go glamping in a remote location. However, their blissful moment turns into an unexpected disaster when one of their friends, Keny, accidentally violates local customs when entering a forbidden tent. This incident triggers a series of terrifying events that threaten everyone's safety. Dom, Tisha, and their friends must face the consequences and the resulting disaster.

May, 1998. Simon, a university student who loves collecting books, owns thirteen of them. One day, in his small rented room, he is visited by a mysterious young boy, a Book Devourer who seeks to seize all his books. One by one, the boy consumes Simon’s treasured collection, leading Simon into an intense emotional conflict with himself.

Follows four members of a Tana Toraja family: Ne’ Minda, the grandfather; Ma’ Adel, the mother; Pong Kenny, the uncle; and Marsel, the son. We follow Marsel’s childhood over seven years, as his grandfather reveals his ancestors’ way of life — Aluk To Dolo, one grounded in the maintenance of environmental equilibrium.

Fragments of light and language once circulated under a military regime’s gaze. Drawing from newspaper archives and the incident site, the work asks what printed words conceal, preserve, or reveal. In revisiting the 1984 Tanjung Priok tragedy, it examines both the violence itself and the contested role of media in shaping memory and truth. Two narratives emerge: official accounts and marginal voices. By confronting archival dissonance, the film exposes how media operates—exhuming suppressed histories and counter-narratives, and suggesting that history is shaped not only by authorities, but also by what remains unwritten.

The film brings together two young female symbols of a history of oppression: Anne Frank and Martha Christina Tiahahu. Despite originating from disparate places, they are connected by the same land, history, and one person in particular. Through the personal journey of the filmmaker, who visits both the place where she grew up and the place her grandparents were forced to leave, the film forms a collage of encounters that challenge our contemporary memory culture and how we construct our narratives.

After 12 years of documentary courses being absent as a form of Integrated Practicum in the Film Department at IKJ, Bikeska, Paul, Arrivo, and Raihanul chose to break the tradition. Amidst the dominance of fiction films, which are considered more prestigious, they chose documentaries due to budget constraints and a desire to respond to the world in a more honest and intimate way. Their poetic documentary film captures two layers of reality: a man who draws architectural spaces, and the laborers who build them. However, the process led to a creative crisis and the images were too structured as the treatment felt like fiction filmmaking. The question arose: were they recording reality or constructing it? The camera turned around, highlighting the team’s process and confusion. Ultimately, the film not only captures space and labor, but also reflects that documentaries, like buildings, are the result of construction and choice.

Riski (17) assigned by his teacher to make a short interview video about passion. At first, he doesn’t take it seriously until he ends up involving his three absurd friends, each with their own quirky passions, leading to laughter and chaos. Yet behind their jokes, a deeper question arises: what does Riski truly love? As the deadline approaches, he rediscovers a long-buried memory. Slowly, Riski realizes the true reason behind his love for capturing moments in life.

a short film by Sidi Saleh

Exhausted by the rhythm of campus life, Cika starts to feel a quiet shift in the world around her — something that blurs the line between time and reality

During a blackout, Mira, Nadia, and Juan play an old snakes-and-ladders board game to pass the time. Unbeknownst to them, the game carries a curse. The further they play, the deeper they are drawn into a dark journey that forces each of them to confront their own egos, ambitions, and inner shadows.

Arya, a junior high school student, is having trouble communicating with his father. Feeling the need to vent his frustration, Arya reveals all his feelings to AI.

A religious leader trapped in a time looping situation.

In fast-changing Papua, a mother stammers through fear and uncertainty as industry and fading traditions reshape her world.

A short film by Sirojuddin

Two brothers, bound by loss, learn to find warmth in routine and strength in each other as they navigate life without their parents.

Xiao Hu, a man of Chinese descent, was praying at his parents' graves to carry out the Qingming Festival, his face filled with sadness and regret for something he had yet to fulfill.

This is the story behind the creation of a chicken dish on a Padang restaurant’s menu.

Dikta is a writer who enjoys finding inspiration from the lives of people around him. One day, he notices a cheerful woman who catches his attention. At first, it seems ordinary, but over time, his curiosity turns into attraction. They often meet and grow close. But a few weeks later, Dikta suddenly disappears, leaving behind a big question and an unexpected truth.

a short film by Ratih Prebatasari

Ito, a young guy battling a cold, Reza, the wise mentor, Hendra "Samurai" from Sunda, and Anton, a tough-as-nails scoundrel they're four guys who've pulled off countless jobs for their boss, Pak Angga. This time, Pak Angga really needs them because his daughter, Naomi, an idol, has been kidnapped by a fanatical fan. But something terrible goes wrong because of their screw-up.

Asri and Yasmin, two scientists stranded on an alien planet with deadly flora and fauna, attempt to find a way back to Earth. Although the reckless Asri and the quiet Yasmin often have different views, they still support each other. When they succeed in activating a rocket station using alien eggs, the situation becomes critical. The alien begin to hunt them until they are cornered in a situation that forces them to separate.

Feeling desperate due to the difficulty of finding a job, Asa followed Esim's invitation to claim the two and a half percent they believed was their rightful ownership.

Give a "lift" is a cheating in a race. However, the kids really want the prize, and then "lift" became a way out.

To get more inheritance, Ari (28) forced his brother to give his part to him.

Two siblings are fighting over the TV remote, each wanting to watch their favorite show.

The film addresses the exile of approximately 12,000 alleged sympathizers and members of the Indonesian Communist Party, who were sent to Buru Island. The story follows Hersri as he returns to Savanajaya Village, where he lived during his exile. Sanleko Beach, the site where the first political prisoners landed, becomes the place where he recounts these bitter memories to his son, Ken. With no historical landmarks as evidence and his fading memories, Hersri struggles to preserve the painful past.

Rafi is one of the thousands of victims affected by the Lapindo Mudflow eruption on May 29, 2006, in the Porong area, Sidoarjo, East Java. Rafi's family's economic condition is not good. His father has passed away, leaving his mother as the sole breadwinner. This situation is worsened by his mother's asthma, which often flares up and worsens due to the poor air quality around the mud eruption. For the sake of his mother's health, Rafi must ride his bike far out of his village to get medicine from the pharmacy, accompanied by his two closest friends. The bitter reality must eventually be accepted by Rafi, as one by one, they leave him.

Lugu accidentally played an adult film, which was watched by the villagers and local figures.

The film tells the story of Kirman, a political prisoner exiled to Buru Island in the late 1960s. After years of trauma, he returns to his village, where he reconnects with his childhood friend, Warno. As Kirman struggles to move on from his painful past, he learns that letting go—especially of his lost love—is the key to healing and rebuilding his life.

A student named Rafel who has problems at school. He is always scolded by the teacher and has no friends. Until finally, there is one person who is willing to extend his hand to Rafel. What actually happened to Rafel?

With the intention of finding who killed his father, Gepeng went to Jakarta. In the city he helped his father's friend's business, while continuing to search for his father's killer. Until finally he found an answer that he did not expect.

Ati's teacher who lives with her mother is a music teacher. One day she hears the sound of a flute coming from a village. Then she gets to know Irwan, the heartbroken flute player. Then love is established. However, Irwan's boss who sees Ati's talent takes her to Jakarta. Misunderstandings due to jealousy occur until finally Ati finds out that the man is her biological father.

An artist who goes crazy due to unexpressed ideas and creativity