Discoveries from Indonesia World Cinema

Conversations between neighbors, Omen and Nuri, about relationships, choices and motherhood. Conversation has neither beginning nor ending.

With a cast of dangdut singers and dangdut groups, this film also highlights a dangdut music festival. H. Imron forbids his daughter Diana to sing dangdut. Her outdoor activities are watched carefully. Meanwhile, Diana teaches their talented housemaid, Itje, to sing dangdut. Later she takes part in the dangdut music festival.

In a village, lived Mr. Arman's family, Mr. Arman has one wife and 3 children, the first child is named Maria, Mr. Arman wanted Maria to become a TNI-AD, after Maria graduated from high school, Mr. Arman died, Maria decided to migrate, to pursue her dream of becoming a TNI-AD, as her late father wished. Because Petrus was the only son, he decided to manage his father's sago plantation. After three years of migrating and attending education in the TNI-AD, Maria applied for leave to the Commander to return to her hometown, meet her mother and two younger siblings to relieve her longing for them, after a few days of Maria's return home, her mother fell ill and eventually died.

Abimanyu (18) is a boy who is trying to go to college. However, his family's condition was not very supportive.

Indonesian candidate Leo Tirtayasa heads to New York, determined to win over the diaspora in the 2024 regional elections. As he campaigns, a journalist follows closely, documenting his every move—until both start to reveal their true selves.

A Girl who destined to become the devil's empress must surrender and believe in God to escape her bad fate.

Reo (Taka Zahara) is a human raised by a wolf who is trained by Barda (Ratno Timoer), the Blind from the Ghost Cave. He lost his father, mother and younger siblings, who were held captive by an evil character who was also greedy in a place called the Green Hell. The journey to find his parents and younger sibling had to go through many obstacles and naturally also fights.

A gloomy portrait of a husband and wife relationship depicted through their wedding day by setting in a lift.

What would you do if a stranger helps you and you don't even know who he really is? Aeri, a young girl got lost in a bus stop. Until a young man stop by and tries to help her.

Dilo, Tera (Debby Ayu), Sonya, Essy, Venus and Fredi, were looking for books at the bookstore. Fredi accidentally found a book of a kind of book and without the knowledge of his friends he stole the book. Fredi and his friends looked confused after seeing seeing the book empty without writing. But when Dilo took it secretly from Fredi he found the order to incubate blood to read the book. Starting from there Fredi and his friends began to often be haunted by supernatural beings, even through dreams. Conflicts began to emerge when they began to be trapped in 13 ways that must be resolved. Through Hadi (Ki Kusumo) Fredi and his friends finally find out that they have been trapped by the curse of the owner of the book, the daughter of Orange. And there is no other way than to complete all the rituals with book instructions to pass the curse.

A young man unknowingly inherits a khodam from his father. The presence of the khodam (a supernatural spirit) brings various unexplainable events and reveals dark secrets that have long been hidden.

Rhoma and Ricky not only have a different taste in music but also differ in the way they live. Rhoma tries to promote Dangdut music and has a religious life, while Ricky likes rock and has a reckless and free lifestyle. Ricky, who is also a good boxer, joins the group, Apache, and becomes the lead. He becomes angry when he hears that Rhoma’s music group has a successful performance in Jakarta. Ani, who was a singer in the Apache group, starts to change. She prefers Rhoma and is getting tired of all the drinking and drunkenness. Rhoma and Ani start dating and get engaged. Conflict between the two groups becomes heated. Rhoma is tortured and his hand crushed so he cannot play guitar anymore. Wounded, Rhoma goes to a teacher in a secluded village. Here, his wound is healed and he is taught martial arts. After returning from the village, he finds that Ricky is raping Ani. So a final fight ensues, and this time it is Rhoma’s turn to crush Ricky’s hand.

A transfer student named DEWI (17) who has a beautiful face becomes the target of boys at her new school. This makes ANGGI (17), SANTI (16), and RINA (17) feel jealous. The three friends decide to prank DEWI by locking her in the school’s haunted bathroom.

Ineke and Jamal, have already discussed their marriage plan, but disaster strikes. Ineke is hit by a horse, and faces the possibility of paralysis. Jamal, who has already applied for a job in the oil industry, has to leave her in the hospital and goes to Natuna island. Jamal never fails to send her letters, but his letters are always kept by Ineke’s mother. Doctor Yaman, who has just returned from Timor Timur, is challenged to cure Ineke. His effort is successful and he even marries Ineke who has forgotten about Jamal. Then Jamal returns home and is heartbroken when his younger sibling informs him about the situation. Ineke’s mother feels guilty.

Basri and Salma, a childless couple who run an Odong-Odong at the carnival, face mounting pressure at a family reunion that leads to the revelation of why they haven’t had a child.

Resigned from his job in the capital, Zulkifli decided to move to Yogyakarta, with his wife and son Zaky. His life in Yogyakarta underwent many changes. How did Zulkifli deal with his family?

Bagong became a hit-and-run victim. Fantar, his friend, can't believe that Bagong died. This makes Bagong spirits return to the real world. They both also tried to find hit-and-run perpetrators.

Tommi, a busker, meets Jerri on the street and takes him to his boarding house. However, they were arrested by Satpol PP who thought they were illegal traders. They were released by Pak Bustomi, the senile father of the boarding house.

Nila, who is having an affair with Eko, must flee to a remote town to escape the terror of Eko's wife. While on the run, Nilla discovers an old radio broadcasting a dark, bloody story from her past. She becomes caught in a series of events from the past and present.

a short film by Paul Agusta

Ester an eighteen years old girl who lives in the Nainggolan village around Toba lakes in Medan, goes about her daily routine until she met with a strange man Raja (M/24). Raja is the brother of one of the local girls who is her acquaintance, which just moved back to the village after a long time being away. The two unintentionally fell in love with each other although knowing that it was forbidden due to their family background. Ester and Raja lives in a village which is still strong with their cultural influences and one of it is the people with the same Marga cannot marry, Ester and Raja coming from the same Marga is now in trouble. Knowing that they cannot be together and live in that village, they decided to run away together. Unfortunately, as they were planning it, the local residents attacked the house they were in and they were punished accordingly. Which in the case of their culture is to be tied up to a post for an unknown period of time.

Danti is a strong-willed woman, but she has to marry Irawan to help her father who is in debt. Danti always feels like a whore since her marriage started from a “debt payment”. In the middle of her pregnancy, Danti runs away to live alone. She feels that she has paid her father’s debt with the result of her work. She tells Irawan that she has had a miscarriage, but in truth, she is raising her child alone. Two men try to approach her to propose marriage but she refuses them both. Later, she realises that she loves Irawan. When the child has an accident, Danti asks Irawan to donate his blood. Then Irawan finds out that he has a child.

Tells about a tough woman named Melati who has a habit from her family to look for the body of her brother every Sunday. His younger brother died as a result of the 1987 Bintaro Tragedy which at that time was with a Kelana dancer. It's been 32 years since her younger brother hasn't been found. One day Melati saw a wandering figure dancing with her sister

Being LGBT is criminalised in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Trans man Faris and his punk band still travel the country playing gigs and protesting on the streets. A documentary portrait of courageous people, humorous friendship and the spirit of punk.

At midnight, a middle-aged taxi driver must drive his female passenger home but his intentions are unclear.

Six good friends enters same high together only to find out there is more to this school than expected, when a female ghost begins to haunt them.

A naive village girl follows her sister to Jakarta and gets involved with female pimp Mrs. Joy.

Selendang Rocker is an Indonesian films released on October 22, 2009, directed by Awi Suryadi. The film stars among others by Candil, Saykoji, Ramzi, Edric Tjandra, Joe P-Project, and Sarah Jane.

Adapted from Pawan Kumar’s “U-Turn". A Young female reporter investigating a story about a person littering on the street. However, when the offenders mysteriously begin dying one by one, she sets out on a journey to uncover the truth.

Nina, a film editor, tries to make Raka, a videographer and her boyfriend, who ghosted her to escape from the disaster emergency area, but Raka refuses because he believes he can prevent the disaster by becoming an environmental monster.

Jessica, a student, is a friend of Mischa and her boyfriend, Reno. Unknown to them, Mischa is pregnant. Then, Mischa asks Jessica to drop her at a clinic without telling her the reason. She disappears without a word and is later found dead mysteriously. Five years after the incident, Jessica begins to see and feel peculiar things. She feels a spirit full of rage that seems to demand something from her. Then she sees the spirit of a little boy trying to show her something. Soon, all the clues lead to the abortion clinic that Mischa went to.

About statues and men.

Egy’s wife, Cece, controls him in all matters including office work and home affairs. Furthermore, Egy is also under the control of his brother-in-law, Yudho. For the sake of a big project, Egy, is ordered to approach Eya, the mistress of a powerful official. His proximity with Eya makes Cece jealous, but also makes Egy realise that his in-law’s business is not environment-friendly. He begins to rebel and stops being a puppet. He reclaims his rights as a husband back.

On a rainy afternoon, Martha discovers an old Polaroid in her bedroom. She then spends the whole afternoon conversing with someone deeply familiar and significant from her past.

A new order threatens to destroy the New Republic. Finn, Rey and Poe, backed by the Resista-- Oh wait! this isn't Star Wars movie.

Sequel to Rompis

Sheila was asked by her brother, Rijal, to sell his laptop. As it turned out, before the laptop gets to Sheila, a fraud took the laptop from the post office. Sheila, Rijal, and their friends traced the disappearance of the laptop through the ID card that had been sent by the fraud.

Wanting to be rich and to be loved by Chery (Arumi Bachsin), Deden (Azis Gagap), consults a clairvoyant called Tante Sun. Her instruction is quite busywork: Deden has to fetch a shroud from a corpse that hasn’t been buried overnight. But he gets through. Unfortunately Tante Sun dies when performing a ritual. Having gotten all he wants, Deden lives in anxiety because Sundel Bolong haunts him, trying to collect a pay-off. Not to mention there’s the robber ghost demanding his loot that’s in fact the source of Deden’s wealth.

Sandra, Mei, Josh and Joe finally satisfy their curiosity about pocong sightings in Blora Road but they are now haunted. Then when Sandra visits Mei’s house, she is greeted by Hilda, whom she doesn’t know. Sandra now thinks that Mei has gone missing. Fredi, Mei’s boyfriend, claims that he has not seen Mei since she returned from Blora. Sandra enlists Hilda’s help to find Mei, as Hilda can see the spirit of dead people. Hilda is also haunted by a spirit of a woman resembling Mei. At her friend Seno’s advice, Hilda tells Sandra that she has met Mei in spirit form. Then they all return to Blora road.

a short film by Yusron Fuadi

a short film by Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo

In the meeting place of two oceans in Indonesia's Lembeh Strait, photographers capture the majestic, otherworldly creatures living below the surface.

A documentary that tells the story of the mysterious Peter, a mysterious shooter in the Soeharto era, from the perspective of a former perpetrator and a survivor.

This performance involves Melati repeating the phrase “I love you” while moving with a sheet of glass measuring 90 x 200 cm for three to six hours. She repeats this simple phrase, commonly uttered in romantic exchanges, over and over in an attempt to engage with the deeper layers of language and the diversity of meanings that it may carry. Over time, and through repetition, this declaration of love begins to loose its meaning, leaving only the sounds of the syllables. The artist asks the audience to consider the limitations of language and how language can cause miscommunication and confusion in inter-personal relationships. (museum MACAN)

Story of Alya, a Dangdut singer who face a debt collector that collect her mother's debt.

Arifin, a six-grader, is infected with polio and he is brought to a shaman to be healed, but there is no progress. He is then brought to a doctor in Yayasan Penderita Anak Cacat (a foundation that takes care of disabled children). The doctor tries to convince Arifin’s parents that although Arifin cannot be fully cured, he can still function like ordinary people. In the end, Arifin is treated in the foundation.

Susy has an abortion, as she is ashamed of her unmarried pregnancy. Nenek Lampir kills her because of this, and her spirit then returns to the world of the living as a beautiful woman, to attract men. She becomes the incarnation of Nenek Lampir so Susy becomes a wild, sexual dangerous woman thirsty for blood. She turns three men into her zombie followers, and they then wreak havoc in the village. Jamal, a religious man, is unsuccessful against them until Kyai Abdullah, who is more powerful arrives. He exorcizes Susy, and releases the three men from her influence.

These are three stories about humans who have to live in shophouses. On the top floor of life and on the ground floor of life.

A group of high school students try to photograph a female ghost that haunts their school.

One night... Three people... Finding their way home. Reza, a taxi driver, would rather stay at home in this late night. But he is out on the streets looking for a fare, where he picks up a beautiful and mysterious passenger.

Rahmat, a senior book repairer who lives on his own, is invited to his son's engagement dinner. While he is happy for his son, his ego gets in the way.

A powerful demon that has asked many victims for his cruelty, become public enemy no.1, and also an enemy of Jaka, whose parents were murdered by the demon.

A man is trying to end an unreasonable relationship

Andy is a loyalist of the Ka'bah Youth Movement (GPK) which is one of the 'civil militias' under the United Development Party (PPP) based in Yogyakarta. In 2019, Andy decided to support Prabowo Subianto to become the President of Indonesia. During the unstable political tension in Indonesia, Andy was required to maintain the condition in Yogyakarta.

Astri’s mother demands angrily for a porn-video cassette that embarrasses the son-in-law Dedi, and the two grandchildren. Mother also gossips with the neighbours and even protests by not eating. To cap it all, she wants to marry Item, the blind masseur whom she often hires. She is actually seeking attention and therefore wants to remarry. In desperation, she even runs away from home. Her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren miss her. In the end, she returns, and her daughter and son-in-law finally agree to her demands. All the acts and behaviour of the mother are comedy moments in the film.

a Desert spirit who sees the past of human memories on each path in the desert.