CHINESE TRADITIONAL CULTURE IN INDONESIAN FILM – THE PHOTOGRAPH (2007)

• Main Author: Teo, Miaw Lee
• Format: E-Article
• Language: English
• Published: The International Journal of Innovative Design, Creativity and Social Sciences 2018
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/20906/1/CHINESE%20TRADITIONAL%20CULTURE%20IN%20INDONESIAN%20FILM%20%E2%80%93%20THE%20PHOTOGRAPH%20%20-%20%28abstrak%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/20906/; http://www.ijidecs.com
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Under Suharto‟s New Order regime (1966-1998), there is virtually no sign of ethnic Chinese culture or Chinese character featured in Indonesian film. However, after the outbreak of racial riot in 1998, between 2002 and 2007, there are a handful of Chinese-themed films produced and directed by Indonesian indigenous filmmakers. Most of their films are subsidized by foreign funding and appeared in national and international film circuit. Among the films, The Photograph (2007), directed by a female filmmaker, Nan Achnas presents an enormous amount of traditional Chinese culture. This paper evaluates the formation of diasporic Chinese identity through a close analysis of the cinematic and visual feature of the film. Incorporated with the filmmaker‟s experience, the discussion of the paper focuses on the representation of diasporic Chinese identity in the film text and that emblematized by the recurrent appearance of three photographs in the film. The paper argues Chinese-themed film like The Photograph not only recuperated Chinese Indonesian stories but also re-emphasized the cinematic portrayal of multi-ethnic society on Indonesian screen.