A Question for Dad (Pertanyaan untuk Bapak)

Julia Suryakusuma and Yatna Pelangi

Note: Internal event not open to external attendees.

Chair: Ben Murtagh

The relationship between Yatna and his father is traumatic. After 20 years separation, Yatna decides to return to his place of birth, to ask a very important question that has bothered him all this time.

This 40 minute film is part of a trilogy of films that focus on family secrets. It was filmed and produced in early 2015 under the banner Project Change, which is under the auspices of the Kalyana Shira Foundation based in Jakarta.

As the producer Nia Dinata noted ' These young directors really have the courage to tell very personal stories. They used to be afraid to tell their stories. It’s a challenge for filmmakers, especially new ones, to arrange the most personal stories into film. Keeping secrets is carrying mental baggage. You get sick after a while. In story development stage, we have to be patient and sensitive in the writing process to avoid being judgmental. Luckily a mentor team was involved as a professional supporters, Lucky Kuswandi, Sammaria Simanjuntak and Ucu Agustin. Together we emphasize the importance of making honest film as some sort of therapy for the filmmakers. After the film production completed, all these young directors felt relieved and liberated. As producer and mentor of course we felt happy'.

Yatna Pelang i is a film maker, writer and activist. He is subject and co-director of this film.

Julia Suryakusuma is a leading Indonesian opinion maker, columnist, author, scholar, public intellectual, feminist and human rights activist. Julia is the author of “Sex, Power and Nation” (2004) which has been updated and translated into Indonesian as “Agama, Seks dan Kekuasaan” (2012). Her most influential work is State Ibuism , her MA thesis (1989), the first gendered analysis of the New Order, published by Komunitas Bambu in 2011. “Julia’s Jihad” – Julia’s mosaic of Indonesia - is a selection of her regular columns in The Jakarta Post, known for their bold, incisive, and controversial style as well as her entertaining, eccentric humour.

Ben Murtagh is Head of the Departments of South and South East Asia at SOAS. His book Genders and Sexualities in Indonesian Cinema; constructing gay, lesbian and waria identities on screen was published by Routledge in 2013 .

Ben Murtagh Books