Indonesian Filmmakers Talk Netherlands Partnerships, Complex Colonial History & The Industry’s Future​on February 10, 2025 at 12:10 pm

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), wrapped over the weekend, having shone a spotlight on the Indonesian cinema and film industry. That focus came on the back of a co-production agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands at the inaugural JAFF Market in December last year, and highlights the growing importance for the country’s films on […]The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), wrapped over the weekend, having shone a spotlight on the Indonesian cinema and film industry. That focus came on the back of a co-production agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands at the inaugural JAFF Market in December last year, and highlights the growing importance for the country’s films on   

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), wrapped over the weekend, having shone a spotlight on the Indonesian cinema and film industry.

That focus came on the back of a co-production agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands at the inaugural JAFF Market in December last year, and highlights the growing importance for the country’s films on the global stage, according to the Indonesian filmmakers we spoke with last week.

The festival boasted a strong Indonesian contingent, with Indonesian filmmaker and visual artist Timoteus Anggawan Kusno named as an ‘Artist in Focus’, with nine of his projects screening at IFFR. Yuki Aditya was part of the Tiger Competition’s jury, while prolific filmmaker Kamila Andini — behind Yuni, Before, Now & Then and Netflix tentpole series Cigarette Girl — brought her latest project, Four Seasons in Java, to IFFR’s Cinemart. The project picked up Japan’s VIPO award at IFFR’s co-production market. Mouly Surya’s independence epic This City is a Battlefield also served as the closing film for IFFR, with actress Ariel Tatum and actor Jerome Kurnia present at the fest.

“There is quite range of Indonesian cinema in Rotterdam this year, which was very exciting for me,” said Andini. “With or without the context of the colonial past and history, Indonesian cinema is something that is very interesting for everyone to look at, and film festivals are one of the best places to see it. We had an Indonesian focus at several other film festivals before, and it shows that the Indonesian industry is rising.”

Kusno, whose works such as Afterlives and Fever Dream often deal comprehensively with the Dutch colonization of Indonesia and its legacies, said: “It’s significant to have this conversation, and to have this conversation through art, culture, films and cinema because this is such a complex history that we are talking about. It’s not only the history that has been canonized, but also the personal history that is growing with the people.”

Aditya, who had been aware of discussions to formalize the Netherlands-Indonesia co-production pact since 2023, has made films such as The Hypothesis of Wandering Images of Jakarta and The Myriad of Faces of Future Challengers.

“One of the programmers came to our place last year and said that they think the festival should present Indonesian films because in part of the long history between the two countries,” said Aditya. “If you are thinking about the demographics of the population itself, like 10% of the Dutch population has Indonesian ancestry.”

Other Indonesian films that featured in IFFR’s programming this year include Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra, Midnight in Bali, Bachtiar, Shaping the Future, Turang, Till Death Do Us Part and Whispers in the Dabbas.

Kusno shuffles between Amsterdam and Yogyakarta, living and working in both cities. He highlighted how having access to video archives in the Netherlands about Indonesia’s past has been critical to his research and craft.

Complex dialogue

Referring to dialogues about colonialism, Kusno said: “It’s multi-layered and very complex. To have this kind of discussion through artistic language is very important and significant. I really appreciate the festival having a space to build this kind of discussion, especially in peaceful times, to look back, but also to really look at the future. Art is the best place to have that.”

Aditya said that Indonesian artists have become more open to talking about the country’s history in their work since the Reformation in 1998, when the authoritarian President Suharto resigned from his role. “Before then, Indonesia was perhaps kind of blurry and in the twilight zone,” said Aditya. “After Reformation, there are more writings and books talking about the histories of both countries more openly — lots of topics that were previously taboos are now discussed more openly.”

A founder of film collective Forum Lenteng, Aditya plans on setting up meetings with Dutch companies and find ways to tap into the new co-production agreement. Looking ahead, he also wants to talk about the 1955 Bandung Conference and some of the circumstances surrounding the event in his next piece of work.

Reflecting on screenings of his work such as The Myriad of Faces of Future Challengers in the Netherlands, Aditya said: “The excitement comes from meeting people who did not live or grow up in Indonesia as well, and how they react to my film, although audiences back then were also Dutch historians, whose focus was on Indonesia.”

On the other side, Andini said that she rarely thinks about Indonesia’s colonial past while making films. “Colonization is not part of my creative thinking, since we have been independent since 1945,” said Andini. “Of course, whenever I collaborate with or come to the Netherlands, I realize so many resemblances, since we met in the past. For me, it’s more about having more reflective perspectives through what happened. We learn and respect the history, but we move forward by trying to create a much better world ahead.”