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In the vast plethora of horror films coming out of Indonesia lately, finding ones that truly stand out is a rather difficult endeavor. “Redemption of Sin”, one of the latest local titles screening on Netflix, had all the right ingredients. The cast is impressive, including Happy Salma, Putri Marino and Shogen, the story combines horror with crime thriller, and the director is Yosep Anggi Noen, who has given us in the past movies like “Solo, Solitude” and “The Science of Fictions”. However, strong credentials don’t always guarantee success, leaving the film’s quality in question. Let us see how we can answer it.

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The story revolves around Wening, a woman whose whole life has been filled with troubles. Her first husband, Wican, failed to take care of her, spending all their money on racing. The second one, Suleiman,...

Continuing its run of slate launches globally, Netflix unveiled new Indonesian originals premiering on its platform this year.

The streamer is working on its first collaboration with director and comedian Ernest Prakasa, titled The Actor (Lupa Daratan). The comedy-drama film is about an egocentric actor who is on the cusp of landing the lead role in a prestige biopic, but suddenly finds himself stripped of his acting abilities. The film stars Vino G. Bastian, Agus Kuncoro and Dea Panendra.

Netflix will also launch its first zombie film from Indonesia, The Elixir, from accomplished horror director Kimo Stamboel. Previously announced with the working title of Abadi Nan Jaya, the film tells the story of a potion that ends up triggering a zombie outbreak due to the ambition of a herbal medicine company’s owner. The Elixir stars Donny Damara, Mikha Tambayong, Eva Celia, Dimas Anggara, Kiki Narendra and Marthino Lio.

The...

While most in Western culture would associate the idea more in line with a horoscope, the concept of foretelling a person's fortune or future is more related to the concept of Primbon in Javanese society. Although the idea is similar, this section of Indonesia presents the idea as more of a book with details regarding people's fates, whether that be their dates aligning themselves into a blessing or a curse, partners being right for each other in marriage, and other such trivialities. Veteran Indonesian genre director Rudy Soedjarwo crafts this idea to mixed results with his latest film, aptly titled “Primbon,” now streaming on Netflix.

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Trying to make a birthday present, Rana (Flavio Zaviera) and her brother Janu (Chicco Kurniawan) head into the local jungle to make a gift for their mom Dini (Happy Salma), but when only Janu returns,...

Yosep Anggi Noen, whose “24 Hours With Gaspar” premiered at Busan and is playing at the Red Sea and Singapore festivals, has lined up his next movie, an untitled horror film.

The film is produced by Palari Films, the Jakarta-based production company behind Edwin’s “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash,” which won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2021. Noen is no stranger to Locarno glory himself, having been nominated in 2012 for “Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses” and in 2016 for “Solo, Solitude” and scored a special mention in 2019 for “The Science of Fictions.”

The untitled horror-drama-thriller film, produced by Palari’s Muhammad Zaidy and Meiske Taurisia, will unite acclaimed actors Happy Salma and Putri Marino for the first time. Salma was nominated for best actress at the Asian Film Awards and best performance at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Kamila Andini’s “Before Now & Then” (2022). Palari is...

"Why is it that guilt always follows women?" Film Movement has unveiled their official US trailer for the acclaimed indie film from Indonesia titled Before, Now & Then, made by Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini. This first premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival last year, and it also played at the Vancouver, Busan, and Philadelphia Film Fests. The story follows Raden Nana Suhani, as played by Happy Salma, a Sundanese woman in the 1960s, who lost a father & son to the war in West Java. She remarried as a second wife to a Sundanese man to start a new life with a man who was rich but always looked down on her. Nana suffers in silence... Until one day, she became friends with one of her husband's mistresses and everything changes. Together, these two women seek hope for independence. Framed by elegant cinematography and a lush score, Before, Now & Then is a lyrical,...

Indonesian director Kamila Andini’s “Before Now and Then” was named best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film’s lead actor Happy Salma was on hand to receive the award at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Australia, on Friday.

The film recounts the story of a young woman who escapes an anti-Communist purge and leads a quiet life as the second wife of a wealthy man. But her past traumas resurface in her dreams.

Although the win is the first time that an Indonesian title has been named Apsa’s best film, and the first time that a woman has claimed the prize, it is the third time that Andini has won a feature film Apsa. Previously, she won the best children’s film prize with “The Mirror Never Lies” in 2012 and collected the youth feature film prize with “The Seen and Unseen” in 2017.

Other key prizes...

“Before Now & Then,” a period drama film about Indonesian women battling the traumas of war and patriarchal society, has been picked up for North American distribution by Film Movement. The film is directed by Kamila Andini.

The film had its premiere earlier this year at the Berlin festival, where it was rewarded with a Silver Bear for Laura Basuki’s supporting performance. It also recently captured the jury prize at the Brussels International Film Festival.

Film Movement plans a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2023, followed by a wide release on home entertainment and digital platforms.

Rights sales are handled by Wild Bunch International and CAA Media Finance.

The film is set in the late 1960s, where Nana (played by Happy Salma) cannot escape her past. Poverty-stricken, having lost her family to the war in West Java, she marries again and begins a new life. Her new husband is wealthy,...

In Before, Now & Then the social and political upheavals of 1960s Indonesia provide a hardened backbone to what is otherwise a tale of longing and simmering romance. It’s the fifth work by Kamila Andini, an Indonesian filmmaker whose dreamy 2017 film Seen and Unseen became a festival darling, screening in Berlin and Toronto that year to acclaim. Before, Now & Then sees her return to the German capital––premiering in competition this week, a sharp ascendency––with her most ambitious film yet. Drawing a number of deeply felt performances from her cast, it is an aching period piece, if frankly staid, that comes complete with many of the genre’s most reliable tropes: sharp intakes of breath; glances stolen through laced curtains; and love, as ever, in opprobrium.

You don’t need to have seen the complete works of Merchant-Ivory to know its tricks-–and new locations do have...

Imagining what “In the Mood for Love” might have been like had Apichatpong Weeraserhakul directed it will land you somewhere in the vicinity of “Before, Now & Then,” Kamila Andini’s beguiling drama set in 1960s Indonesia. Anyone familiar with that country’s history, even if only through Joshua Oppenheimer’s devastating companion documentaries “The Act of Killing” and “The Look of Silence,” knows that there’s little happiness on the other side of this film’s end credits, but Andini’s literary adaptation is so transfixing that her characters never feel as doomed as we know them to be.

The “before” prologue finds Nana (Happy Salma) and her sister Ninsingh (Rieke Diah Pitaloka) fleeing for their lives, with our heroine convinced that both her husband and father are dead as the result of the country’s anticommunist purge — a fate that may await her should she refuse to marry an...

The complete lineup for the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place February 10-20, 2022, has been unveiled and it’s a major collection of some of our most-anticipated films of the year. As teased yesterday, Claire Denis’ Fire (which now has the title Avec amour et acharnement (aka Both Sides of the Blade)) will premiere in competition, alongside Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 follow-up Alcarràs, Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, Rithy Panh’s Everything Will Be Ok, and more.

Elsewhere in the festival is Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, Dario Argento’s Dark Glasses, Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave & Warren Ellis doc This Much I Know To Be True, Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package, Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True, plus new shorts by Lucrecia Martel, Hlynur Pálmason, and more. Also recently announced was the Panorama section, which will open...

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival (February 10-20) revealed its Competition line-up on Wednesday, scroll down for the full list.

As previously announced, the International Competition opens this year with François Ozon’s Peter Von Kant. Joining the Ozon pic today were 17 further features, including new films from Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Ulrich Seidl, and Rithy Panh.

This marks Denis’ first time in Berlin’s Competition, having been a regular at Cannes over the years, while her last film High Life debuted at Toronto. The director’s new movie Both Sides of the Blade (previously known as Fire) stars Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon.

South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo picked up the Silver Bear for Best Director in 2020 for movie The Woman Who Ran. His latest pic is The Novelist’s Film, which Berlin Artistic Director today said celebrates chance encounters.

The Competition program is 17 world premieres plus one international premiere,...

Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.

Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.

The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.

The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.

"I hope we can be together again. And hopefully soon." Netflix has unveiled a new trailer for an Indonesian indie comedy titled Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens, which is the final release title after switching between Ali & The Queens, or Ratu Ratu Queens. After his father's passing, a teenager from Indonesia sets out for New York City in search of his estranged mother and soon finds love and connection in unexpected places. He discovers that there are many different ways to finding the real meaning of family. The film stars Iqbaal Ramadhan as Ali, along with Nirina Zubir, Tika Panggabean, Welas Asri, Happy Salma, Marissa Anita, and Aurora Ribero. This looks charming and amusing, and I dig all the little hand-drawn touches. Another story of leaving your home country and then reconnecting in unexpected ways. This is worth a look. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Lucky Kuswandi's Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens,...