Indonesia, Singapore, France, Australia, 2021, 95′
by Kamila Andini
with Arawinda Kirana Kevin Ardilova Dimas Aditya
Awards
- Platform Prize – Toronto IFF 2021
- Young Cineastes Award – Palm Springs IFF 2022
Yuni (Arawinda Kirana) is the smartest in her school and aspires to go to university. But her high school is becoming increasingly puritanical, insisting on mandatory virginity tests for girls and a ban on music. Yuni’s hopes are further dampened by two marriage proposals from older men she barely knows. Her grandmother urges her to accept this “blessing”, for it is said that a woman who rejects three suitors is destined to never marry. In the face of this societal pressure, Yuni must also negotiate her crush on a teacher and the affections of shy schoolmate Yoga, a budding poet.
Kamila Andini is a mother and filmmaker based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her concern of social culture, gender equality and environmental issue lead her passion to make films with a distinctive perspective of telling a story. She released her debut feature film THE MIRROR NEVER LIES (2011), which portraits the life of sea wanderer in Indonesian ocean. She released her second feature THE SEEN AND UNSEEN (2017); a cinematic universe of dualism based on Balinese philosophy Sekala Niskala. Both films had travelled through more than 50 film festivals around the world and received about 30 awards nationally and Internationally, including Grand Prix winner best feature film in Berlinale Generation Kplus 2018. She also creates some short films to show her voice and vision in filmmaking. AFTER FOLLOWING DIANA (2015), MEMORIA (2016), and SEKAR (2019), her last short film BACK HOME (2019), become part of omnibus for Japan based production ANGEL SIGN (2019). Lately, she is also expanding her directing works into theatre. Her debut theatre work based on her second film; ‘The seen and Unseen’ perform in Esplanade Singapore 2018 and Asia Topa Melbourne 2019. And the latest one is a monologue, stage and virtual performance, Nusa Yang Hilang (2021). Her third feature about an Indonesian teenage story called YUNI (2021) get top proze at the Toronto IFF 2022. BEFORE, NOW AND THEN (2022) is her latest feature film, which was selected at Berlinale.
Filmmaking for me is all about relations and interrelations, its about changing perspective, its about the journey to the east.