Experimental Drama Film 'Saia' Finally Released in Indonesia
Yogyakarta. "Saia," an experimental drama by author and filmmaker Djenar Maesa Ayu, had its long overdue Indonesian premiere at the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival, or JAFF, at Taman Budaya Yogyakarta on Wednesday (30/11), seven years after the film's limited release abroad.
The 2009 film is Djenar's second feature after "Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet" ("They Say I'm a Monkey"). The film depicts an abusive sexual relationship between a man and a woman as seen from the perspective of an unseen spectator. Djenar wrote, produced, directed and starred in the production.
Djenar took the opportunity at Wednesday's screening to apologize to audiences for several low-quality sections of the film captured with a digital video recorder. According to Djenar, this is the only surviving copy of "Saia" she has managed to find. The 43-year old said she never intended for the film to be shown in a public screening, so she never kept a copy in her personal portfolio.
"I thought my work has been saved [by JAFF]. If it hadn't been for JAFF, I didn't think I would ever be able to screen this film in Indonesia," she said.
The majority of the 80-minute drama consists of explicit sexual scenes between Djenar and actor Harry Dagoe Suharyadi in a bedroom. "Saia" does not include any dialogue, the names of Djenar and Harry's characters are never revealed and any sound made by either of them is muffled. Instead, audiences can only hear the heavy breathing of the unseen onlooker recording them from another bedroom.
For Djenar, "Saia" is an important passion project that follows on from her directorial debut in "Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet" in 2008. She said she entered production on "Monyet" without a proper understanding of the cinema production process. The quantity of characters and settings in "Monyet" eventually overwhelmed her.
"Making works of art is an ongoing learning process. I learned that, with all of my limitations, I needed to keep characters and locations few," she said.
When she decided to make another film with a lower production budget, Djenar realized she had to develop a strong core concept.
"That's the only way for low budget films to work," she said.
She then sought story ideas from various exemplar cases of sexual violence of which she had heard across the years, and finally decided to make "Saia."
"Saia" is a short for two Indonesian words, "saya" ("I") and "ia" ("his/her"). The dichotomy of the sexes, camera perspective and the setting of two bedrooms with two windows was done intentionally as Djenar tried to describe how bodies react to sexual violence.
"In many cases, especially with domestic violence, the act is done repeatedly. A lot of people say that victims must also enjoy the violence, otherwise it would not happen repeatedly," she said.
In "Saia," Djenar wanted to criticize spectators of the news, who do nothing but consume these stories.
"Just because we did not commit these acts of sexual violence, we can still be part of the problem. Even though we tried to be emphatic to the victims, we have to admit there are masochistic qualities in all of us, a part of ourselves that enjoys seeing the violence," she said.
Djenar said she has been keeping "Saia" for a limited audience because she does not want to deal with the consequences.
"I'm too lazy to deal with stupidity. I'm also too lazy if I have to protect my family members from interrogation, whether this movie is pornography or not," she said.
The screening of "Saia" is part of JAFF's focus program on Djenar's works as a film director. Other than "Saia," JAFF this year is also screening "Monyet," Nay" and her latest feature "Hush," a collaboration with Singaporean filmmaker Kan Lume. The two of them met at the Jogja festival in 2015, where the idea to make "Hush" was born.
"Hush" is the running for the Golden and Silver Hanoman Award at JAFF, competing against nice other films including "Interchange" starring Nicholas Saputra and Prisia Nasution, Harry Dagoe's latest film "Sunya" and "Solo, Solitude" by Yosep Anggi Noen.
This year marks the 11th edition of JAFF, which showcases premiere screenings of films from the Pacific region.
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