Talks: Menulis Perubahan: Sinema Indonesia di Tengah Transformasi
Since the end of the New Order era, the landscape of Indonesian cinema has undergone fundamental changes in terms of production, distribution, and the social representation presented on screen. Political reform paved the way for the emergence of diverse themes, storytelling styles, and new players in the film world.
Thomas Barker, in his book Going Mainstream: Indonesian Cinema after the New Order, discusses how the Indonesian film industry transformed into a part of national popular culture and the creative economy. He highlights how practices in production, distribution, and regulation shaped a new face for Indonesian cinema—one that is more open, yet also caught in the logic of the market and the power of capital.
Meanwhile, Dag S. Yngvesson, in Archipelagic Cinemas: Screening Southeast Asian Modernity, offers a broader view of Southeast Asian cinema, positioning film as a medium that reflects and shapes archipelagic modernity. Through a transnational approach, he views cinema as a space for the exchange of ideas, history, and identity among Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia, which are interconnected by colonial experience, maritime culture, and migration.
Schedule
Jadwal
Venue: Edelweiss Room ARTOTEL Suites Bianti – Yogyakarta
Date: Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Admission Fee: Free
Speaker:
Pembicara:
Thomas Barker
Film Researcher
Thomas Barker is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University. Previously, he was Head of School at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, and a visiting scholar at UCLA, National Chengchi University, National University of Singapore, and the National Library of Australia. He has served on the juries for the International Documentary Association and Freedom Film Festival Malaysia, and written for the Far East Film Festival. He has written extensively about the screen industries of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Dag S. Yngvesson
Film Researcher
Dag Yngvesson is a filmmaker and Assistant Professor of cinema and cultural studies at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia. His scholarly and creative work focuses on the history and politics of form in Southeast Asian cinema and media. His first book, entitled Archipelagic Cinemas: Screening Southeast Asian Modernity (University of California Press 2025), compares trajectories of cinematic and political development across Southeast Asia. He is currently in production on Pulau Keramat, an ethnofiction film project focused on the religious politics of keramat tomb shrines in Malacca, Malaysia.
Budi Irawanto
President of JAFF
Moderator:
Debby Dwi Elsha
Lecturer
Lecturer in the Visual Communication Design Study Program, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, ISI Yogyakarta. Experienced in producing and reviewing Indonesian films. Has served as a judge at various national and international film festivals. Contributed as Chief of Public Lecture at JAFF 2018. Active as a board member of the Indonesian Film Studies Association (KAFEIN). Holds a degree in communication studies and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Performance Art and Fine Arts Studies at Gadjah Mada University.
