Documentary on 1965 Communist Purge Survivors Kicks Off Indocs Film Fest
Jakarta. "Bangkit Dari Bisu" ("Rising From Silence"), a documentary film portraying survivors of the 1965 communist purge by Shallahudin Siregar, kicked off the Indocs film festival at Erasmus Huis, Kuningan, South Jakarta on Thursday (01/12).
The story follows a group of women who share the same horrific experience of incarceration during the 1965 tragedy. These women had been hunted down by the military regime for allegedly supporting the communism. During their time in prison, they often got together and composed songs.
This eventually lead to a choir group, Dialita (an abbreviation of “Di Atas Lima Puluh Tahun” or Above 50 Years Old), to voice their fears. After 50 years of silence, the survivors choose to tell their stories by singing to initiate social change and co-constructing new meanings of health and resilience.
“Singing heals my trauma and makes me healthier,” said Dialita chairperson, Uchikowati. “Dialita is a place for mutual strengthening and support to relieve the burden of suffering,”
Dialita also creates songs as a way to rebuild self-esteem and restore reputations, with many purge survivors remaining social outcasts as former enemies of the state.
Dialita songwriter Utati Koesalah said that people, especially younger generations, must know the truth about what happened in 1965.
“We must have the courage to speak up, we have been silenced for a long time. They need to learn about the tragedy from different sources,” she said.
Shalahuddin said "Rising from Silence" is an alternative platform to change people's point of view towards them and these women aspire for others to recognize them as victims, not betrayers.