Indonesia: New Nation of Asia (1959)

Back to Linggajati

Joty ter Kulve grew up in the house where the historic Linggajati agreement was concluded in 1946. She experienced the Second World War in Indonesia, was imprisoned in camps and left for the Netherlands after the war. Now she returns, perhaps for the last time, to the place where she grew up. The young documentary maker Twan Spierts accompanied Joty to that historic place, where the first step was taken towards the independence of the Dutch East Indies. The documentary was previously broadcast on Omroep West.

Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso

This documentary delves into the unanswered questions surrounding the trial of Jessica Wongso — years after the death of her best friend, Mirna Salihin.

The Look of Silence

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

Video Visits: Bali - A Window on Paradise

A comprehensive tour of the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali - its slumbering volcanoes, mountain lakes, lush green rice paddies and intricate temples. Bali, despite its dependence on tourism, still retains its vital four thousand year old culture. The video takes us to Lake Bratan; Ubud, the country’s cultural centre; Mas, famous for its carved wood masks; the port of Singaraja and the beaches of Sanur.

The Green Army

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.

Canine

A family in rural area of West Java, Indonesia enjoys their time with 'Ngadu Bagong', a sundanese traditional game where dogs put to fight against a wild boar in a single event. Ngadu Bagong has always been some sort of animal abuse but it's been in the tradition for a long time. Ade Rohmat has been in the game for a long time; a hobby that he now passes on to his daughter, Ilma Nurjanah. The potentially controversial Ngadu Bagong has always brought intense emotion, prestige, and fortune upon its practicioners.

The Sign of Doom

The pandemic has changed many things. Including Alfia, she is a teacher who has learned a lot from the phenomenon she saw. For Alfia, trash is no longer appropriate to be disposed of in its place.

Wet Earth and Warm People

This documentary by Michael Rubbo (Waiting for Fidel) offers candid glimpses of Indonesia and its people. Filming in and around the capital of Jakarta, the cameras follow where chance leads, capturing the flavour of life in this fertile crescent of tropical islands. Throughout the film, the focus is on a society caught between the past and the conflicting options for the future - to change or not to change from long-established patterns of life to ones more influenced by western technology.

Sarikat

A short documentary about an elderly couple who grew old together in a house. In their old age, they recount important moments in their lives, such as the first time they met.

Dragon Island

There is an island where dragons still roam. A Jurassic type underworld where ancient warlords still rule. Where they fight for supremacy...where they fight to survive. Komodo Island - deep in the remote basin of the Pacific Ocean - its an ancient Kingdom of fire and brimstone. Here, a string of 452 volcanoes erupt from the ocean bed, its known as "The Ring of Fire" and it's the perfect habitat for dragons. Komodo Dragons! The largest living lizard on the planet with 34 million years of survival in his DNA. Its no surprise that he's still known as a dragon, he has the presence of an ancient gladiator. He's armored in claws and scales, but instead of spitting fire, he spits deadly venom.

Guilty

A film about convicted drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran, who became an accomplished artist before he was executed by firing squad in Indonesia in April 2015.

Operation Orangutan

A rehabilitation centre in western Kalimantan in Borneo aims to rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned orangutans for release back into the wild.

RITUAL, Part IV: The Blends

Tracing the footsteps of urban space involves understanding the various elements that influence urban development. One of the inseparable problems of cities is the attraction of migrants from various fields. The river, which has been a part of the city’s long history, brings with it all the polemics related to the city’s development.

Into the Inferno

With stunning views of eruptions and lava flows, Werner Herzog captures the raw power of volcanoes and their ties to indigenous spiritual practices.

The Last Book

The film focuses on the exciting life journey of Swiss writer Katharina Zimmermann. She follows her husband on a mission to the jungle in Indonesia where she raises their four children and five foster children and lives through the military coup. Back in Switzerland Katharina discovers her voice and finds her path. Now, at eighty, she is writing her life story. Yet suddenly she faces another battle because her publisher is threatening to let her go.

The Night in IV Chapters

A group of students surround their beloved campus. But what they did was unnatural. In general, other people will surround the campus in the afternoon or evening, but they will circle the campus at night, to be more precise, starting at 11 pm. There are various things that they find while circling their beloved campus…

The Act of Killing

Filmmakers expose the horrifying mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia and those who are celebrated in their country for perpetrating the crime.

Indonesia Calling

Two weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945, Indonesian Independence leaders proclaimed “Indonesia Merdeka!” ‘Freedom for Indonesia’ and an end to Dutch colonial rule over the Netherlands East Indies. Internationally renowned Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens, in Australia as Film Commissioner for the Netherlands East Indies government in exile, resigned his position in protest against Dutch policy, which sought to re-impose its colonial rule. In collaboration with Indonesian activists, Chinese, Indian and Australian trade unionists, and local artists and filmmakers, Ivens made Indonesia Calling, a film documenting the crucial role of Australian trade union support in the establishment of the new Republic of Indonesia. Ivens’ film was an activist documentary; it actively contributed to the events it depicted. All those who worked on it became ‘adversely known’ to the security services.

They are Called Junkmobile

A group of volunteers unite to spread happiness through effortless measures from the internet.

The Tiger from Tjampa

Set in the 1930s, and narrated like a ballad from the past, "The Tiger from Tjampa" tells of how a young man, Lukman, seeks to avenge his father’s murder by learning pencak silat, a traditional form of self defence, based on the movements of animals.

Costume

A Malaysian eats at an Indonesian food court in Jakarta during times of confrontation & disputes between the two countries.

Fair Wind to Java

The Dutch East Indies, at the end of the nineteenth century. An adventurous captain of an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 precious diamonds. Unfortunately, he's not the only one and then there's also that volcano on the nearby island of Krakatau, waiting to explode in its historical, disastrous eruption...

Tjoet Nja' Dhien

Set in 1896, "Tjoet Nja' Dhien" celebrates one of Indonesia's great heroes who fought for independence from the Dutch. The pious Muslim people of Aceh, a city that had flourished since ancient times as a trade port, enter into a fierce war with the Dutch. Tjoet Nja' Dhien, the widow of a rebel leader operating in Aceh in Sumatra, assumes the leadership when her husband Teuku Uma is killed in an ambush. Dhien's charismatic presence and power of survival motivate the locals to join and later continue their opposition to the Dutch. Despite personal obstacles, she remained in the thick of the struggle for ten years.

Best Friend

Sonjay, a poor and stinking high school student, was bullied by a gang street student until one day he met his best friend.

Red And White 3: Hearts Of Freedom

The third and final film in the award-winning box office hit RED AND WHITE trilogy set during the 1947-48 Indonesian revolution, as a band of guerrillas fights for Indonesia's freedom on land, sea and air against the Dutch empire.

Negeri 5 Menara

A teenager reluctant to enroll discovers the importance of friendship and the determination it takes to pursue his dreams at a boarding school.

The Virgin Corpse 2

At home, Tania is a closed girl who lives in the pressure of the mother who hates him since childhood . In the office, Tania is a shy girl who is busy harbored feelings of passionate love on Jordy, his boss. He can only bite the fingers and dream while his colleague, Grace, bolder approach Jordy. Until one day Janet, neighbors, giving the idea to use rope Pocong Tania Virgin to lure Jordy. Tania desperate to take the rope pocong it from the grave a virgin girl who had just died.

The Year of Living Dangerously

Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Australian photographer with a deep connection to and vast knowledge of the Indonesian people, and also falls in love with a British national.

Nostalgi

A few years after the outbreak of a virus that endangers the human race. War, pillaging, and arsonry occurred, nearly wiping out humanity. But Dirman continues to fight for survival, though the memories of the past will always continue to haunt him.

Three Maidens

Three sisters—Nunung, Nana and Nenny—are being raised by their grandmother in Jakarta after their mother's death. Though the sisters' father Sukandar lives with them, he is too involved in his own work to pay them heed.

Comic 8: Casino Kings - Part 2

Eight secret agents assigned to go undercover as stand up comedians in search of a comedian who becomes a liaison to the master criminal named The King, the most spectacular gambling casino owner in Asia.

This Angry Age

Twenty-year-old Joseph and his sixteen-year-old sister Suzanne live in the merciless conditions of an intemperate foreign land with their widowed mother. Their mother attempts to exert a hold on her children by involving them in the family's run-down rice plantation. However the siblings seek liberation, and look for this in their romantic lives. Suzanne becomes involved with Michael and Joseph finds a love interest in Claude.

Grave Torture

Mourning the death of his serial killer father, a boy enters his dad's casket and soon finds himself buried alive.

The Moon on the Graveyard

Back when urbanization was a new phenomenon, this film captured the aspirations desired by three young men from North Sumatera of Batak ethnicity. As the case with other regional area, people from the rural realm were convinced that their way of live is inadequate, so that they "need" to make it in the city, or bust. So Sabar, Tigor and Sahat went up and down their luck in order to find their desired "gold" in a strange land.

A Moon Hangs Above the Graveyard

A remake of 1973 film of the same name. "Bulan di Atas Kuburan" is a tale of hardships in the capital city. Sahat, Tigor and Sabar ; three friends from Samosir, North Sumatra, quest after greatness whilst deperately holding on to their inner idealism.

Aisyah: Biarkan Kami Bersaudara

Aisyah just graduated. She lives in Ciwidey, West Java, a religious village near a tea plantation, with her mother and younger brother. Her father had died a few years ago. She wants to be a teacher. One day, she gets a call from the foundation where she enrolled: she gets her wish fulfilled at the location that she never knows: Derok, North Middle Timor District. From the beginning she feels like a "foreigner". The local people mistake her as Sister Maria, just because she wears a veil like a sister. The people is expecting the arrival of Sister Maria as a teacher in the village. This isolated village is without electricity and cellular signals. The new environment, the different tradition and religion make Aisyah giddy. Fortunately there is Pedro (Arie Kriting) who makes the problems easy. She must face the hatred of one of his student, Lordis Defam. Through the chief, she understand that she is a Muslim who is considered an enemy by Lordis Defam who is a catholic

The Night Comes for Us

After sparing a girl's life during a massacre, an elite Triad assassin is targeted by an onslaught of murderous gangsters.

Paper Boats

Feelings slowly grow between an eccentric writer and an aspiring painter until circumstances — and other people — cause them both to drift away.

Behind 98

During a turning point in Indonesian history, a family must endure personal turmoil while their nation faces drastic political upheaval.

Comic 8

Eight young people from various reasons and motives coincidentally rob a bank at the same time. They had to work together to find answers to the puzzles, and find the best solution for all.

Eat Pray Love

Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house and a successful career – yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.

The Virtual Life

The film takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it tells about how the situation was handled by 3 different people.

What's Up with Cinta?

A popular high school girl strains her relationship with her close-knit clique when she begins falling for a reclusive, lower-class schoolmate.

Merantau

In Minangkabau, West Sumatera, Yuda a skilled practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his "Merantau" a century's old rites-of-passage to be carried out by the community's young men that will see him leave the comforts of his idyllic farming village and make a name for himself in the bustling city of Jakarta.

Footsteps

In Footsteps, Fiona Tan creates connections between personal stories and the world around us. The footage shows children at play and Dutch windmills, but above all people engaged in heavy physical labour in the countryside and in factories. In a fascinating juxtaposition, she combines these images with excerpts from letters she received from her father just after she moved to the Netherlands in the late 1980s. Through his education in Indonesia, Tan’s father knew a lot about the Netherlands without ever having visited the country. In the letters, he meanders seamlessly between personal news and world events, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

Anchoring

A young seaman who is being hit by various problems related to his rights as a worker in private shipping company.