Billed as the first film about queer women in Indonesia – "the country with the world's largest Muslim population" – Anak-Anak Srikandi is an original and important collaborative anthology on contemporary gender politics interweaving eight women's stories with a shadow-theater rendition of the story of Srikandi, a hero of the Mahābhārata who, born a girl, grows into a mighty warrior with an undying, passionate love for a noblewoman.
"This story reminds us that same-sex love and gender variety were not imported from the west but in fact form a deep and ancient aspect of Indonesian society." The film makers (Laura Coppens, Hera Danish, Yulia Dwi Andriyanti, Dian Eggie, Oji Ijo, Angelika Levi, Stea Lim, Afank Mariani, Imelda Taurinamandala, Winnie Wibowo) transform a scholarly concept into a marvelously watchable, even transcendent, movie with great heart and no sentimentality – breaking borders of documentary, fiction, performance and experimental film as deftly as those of gender and culture.
Mirror post: http://blog.williamaveryhudson.com/?p=966
"This story reminds us that same-sex love and gender variety were not imported from the west but in fact form a deep and ancient aspect of Indonesian society." The film makers (Laura Coppens, Hera Danish, Yulia Dwi Andriyanti, Dian Eggie, Oji Ijo, Angelika Levi, Stea Lim, Afank Mariani, Imelda Taurinamandala, Winnie Wibowo) transform a scholarly concept into a marvelously watchable, even transcendent, movie with great heart and no sentimentality – breaking borders of documentary, fiction, performance and experimental film as deftly as those of gender and culture.
Mirror post: http://blog.williamaveryhudson.com/?p=966
