Parts of the Heart (Indonesian with English subtitles)

Key information

Date
Time
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Venue
Brunei Gallery
Room
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre

About this event

Paul Agusta (Director)

Indonesian film with English subtitles.
(Indonesia, 2012, 90 minutes)

Synopsis

8 stories about Peter, a gay man living in Jakarta from the age of 10 to 40 and his experiences with love that help to shape the man he is today.

From his first boyhood crush (Stolen Kiss), his first sexual experience (The Game Kiss), his experiences with lost love be it through death (Solace) or societal pressures (The Last Time), to dealing with the rough patches in a long term relationship (3 and The Couch and the Cat). Culminating in a moment where Peter, a few years into his marriage, flirts with infidelity when an attractive young man seeks shelter in Peter’s coffee shop during heavy rain, causing him to question his commitment (Why Isn’t Peter Happy?).

Director’s statement:

I am Peter, theres no denying that. This is a very personal film. Every story youll see in this film is either based on an actual event in my life or an amalgamation of events and emotions felt in various moments of my life.

I could go on for pages about the difficulties of growing up gay in a country like Indonesia, but that’s not really the point of this film, at least not entirely.

This film is about emotional growth. Its about how our experiences with love often change the way we look at life and everything in it. It is difficult to deny that how we love and how we are loved contributes in shaping who we are as people. That’s what Parts of the Heart is about. The shaping of a man, Peter, as he grows from a small child to an adult, through his experiences with attraction, love, lust, heartache, heartbreak, long and short relationships.

Indonesia and its ever-changing socio-cultural climate merely serve as a backdrop. Only occasionally do the moral pressures of society appear as the catalyst to certain events in the overall tale of Peters life. But it is never the focus. How the characters react to such pressures is what I consider important, and is what I plan to focus on.

The visual treatment will vary according to the mood of each story, but a general no-frills, realistic approach will be taken. I want the stories to speak for itself, with the visuals serving to highlight the emotions in each segment.

As for the music, each segment will be ended with a song from Malaysian Singer/Songwriter Jerome Kugan, who has written songs based on each story in the film.

It is my hope that Parts of the Heart will give audiences a glimpse into the inner life of a gay man and also to make them understand that the heart will want what it wants. Hearts will love, and hearts will break. Love and heartbreak is blind to sexual orientation, race, class, or creed. It is human to love and it is human to hurt. And that is what Parts of the Heart intends to make people see.

Admission

Free and open to the public, no booking required

Organiser: Centres & Programmes Office

Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk

Contact Tel: 020 7898 4893