Indonesian New Cinema

This chapter explores the significance of two cinematic events in the post-Suharto era. The first, the production of an independent omnibus film entitled Kuldesak (1999) and the second, a manifesto called the ISinema movement that aimed to shape the evolution of the industry. It begins with the historical context for this oppositional stance, which was influenced by initiatives set in the 1955 Bandung Conference reconfiguring neo-colonialism influences, ideologically, economically, and culturally. The birth of Kuldesak was shaped by an urge to speak out against the dominance of monopolistic distribution practices and the government’s restrictions on the arts. In the ISinema movement, a group of Indonesian filmmakers proclaim principles of filmmaking and propose a new approach.