Youth Stories and Rural Voices in West Sumbanese YouTube Films

As one of the most popular media platforms in Indonesia, YouTube has become a home for locally produced content. The filmmakers can position themselves as active and empowered storytellers, who define and portray the stories about their home using their own language. This chapter discusses a YouTube channel Pak Guru Hits Sumba ( PGHS ), run by Soalihin Asdin, a junior high school teacher from southwest part of Sumba island, which features local stories produced with the participation of his students. Examining their storytelling strategies and participatory film production, I argue that PGHS demonstrates a new form of regional storytelling and self-representation, which amplifies rural voices and establishes these producers as part of contemporary screen practice and culture in Indonesia.