'Opera Jawa'

Source: Screen File

‘Opera Jawa’

The 20th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia will open with Garin Nugroho’s 2006 musical Opera Jawa and close with the world premiere of Aco Tenriyagelli’s feature debut Comedy Buddy (aka Suka Duka Tawa). 

The festival will carry a transfiguration theme for its 20th edition, which runs from November 29 - December 6 and showcases 227 titles from 43 countries as Indonesia’s largest Asian film festival. 

Opening film Opera Jawa will be screened in its original 35mm celluloid format. It previously played in Venice in 2006 as part of Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations and at JAFF’s inaugural edition in the same year. Indonesian master Garin is a co-founder of JAFF.

Closing film Comedy Buddy is about a girl who wants to take revenge on her father, a famous comedian who abandoned her since childhood. It is produced by Bion Studios and Spasi Moving Image.

Eleven titles will compete for the Golden and Silver Hanoman Awards in the main competition, including Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s Cannes Critics’ Week winner A Useful Ghost; actress-turned-director Shu Qi’s Venice competitor Girl; Yoon Ga-eun’s Toronto title The World Of Love; and Indonesian actor Reza Rahadian’s directorial debut On Your Lap (aka Pangku), which debuted at the inaugural JAFF Future Project last year and recently won four prizes at Busan.

A further 13 local titles are running for the Indonesian Screen Awards, including Sidharta Tata’s Ikatan Darah, Ho Wi Ding’s Mothernet (aka Esok Tanpa Ibu), Riri Riza’s Rangga & Cinta and Yandy Laurens’ box office hit Sore: Wife From The Future. Four new categories are added to the Indonesian Screen Awards, including best production design, best sound, best original music, and best poster design.

Highlights from the line-up also include the latest works by acclaimed Asian directors, including Jafar Panahi’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident; Hasan Hadi’s Cannes Camera d’Or winner The President’s Cake; Sho Miyake’s Locarno Golden Leopard winner Two Seasons, Two Strangers; Lee Sang-il’s Japanese box office hit Kokuho, and Mamoru Hosoda’s animation Scarlet.

In collaboration with Asian Film Academy, JAFF will host Hong Kong auteur Ann Hui in a masterclass, and will screen two of her seminal works, 2011’s A Simple Life and 2002’s July Rhapsody in newly restored 4K versions.

JAFF will also bring together filmmakers across Southeast Asia such as Kimo Stamboel, Joko Anwar, Erik Matti and Kulp Kaljareuk, who will take part in Creative Asia, a forum first introduced by Netflix at Busan and now returning to JAFF.

The festival line-up was revealed on November 5 at a media conference in Jakarta, with the attendance of JAFF festival director Ifa Isfansyah and programme director Alexander Matius. Also present were actor Hannah Al Rashid and director Aco Tenriyagelli.

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