Chineseness, belonging and cosmopolitan subjectivities in Post-Suharto independent films

• Main Author: SETIJADI, Charlotte
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Chinese Indonesians; Film; Indonesia; Identity politics; Asian Studies; Film and Media Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2790; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/permalink/65SMU_INST/1lk8vc3/alma9911415602601
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Following the demise of the New Order in 1998, Chinese Indonesians have made a dramatic "reappearance" on Indonesian cinema screens. As a number of scholars (Heryanto 2008; Sen, 2006; Tickell 2009) have observed, if Chinese Indonesians were virtually absent from Indonesian films during the 32 years of Suharto's rule, their renewed cinematic presence in the past decade is hard to miss. Beginning with Niadi Nata's Ca-bau-kan (Courtesan) in 2002, and Riri Riza's Gie in 2005, there have been at least 17 films of various genres made in the recent years that centrally feature ethnic Chinese characters, or have raised issues concerning Chinese Indonesians as their subject matter. A number of these films, such as Babi Buta Yang Ingin Terbang (The Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly, 2009, to be discussed in this chapter), have gained considerable notoriety on local film circuits, both for the contentious themes that they raised and their successes in international film festivals.