EXCLUSIVE: China’s Rediance has picked up sales rights to Next Step Studio Indonesia, an anthology film that includes Reza Rahadian and is set to world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.
It is the first film to emerge from Next Step Studio, a talent development programme presented by Critics’ Week and created in collaboration with Dominique Welinski of French production company DW.
The venture pairs four Indonesian writer-directors with four Southeast Asian filmmakers, with each short running around 15 minutes. Financing comes entirely from Indonesian sources.
The shorts include Holy Crowd written and directed by M. Reza Fahriyansyah (Indonesia) and Ananth Subramaniam (Malaysia); Original Wound by Shelby Kho (Indonesia) and Sein Lyan Tun (Myanmar); Annisa by Reza Rahadian (Indonesia) and Sam Manacsa (Philippines); and Mothers Are Mothering by Khozy Rizal (Indonesia) and Lam Li Shuen (Singapore).
Holy Crowd follows a woman who rises from the dead during her funeral, Original Wound centres on a brother and sister grieving their mother, Annisa is about a blind teenage girl who finds an unexpected way to be heard, and Mothers Are Mothering follows a woman in an abusive marriage who reunites with a former lover.
All the filmmakers are working on their debut feature, except actor-turned-director Reza Rahadian whose directing feature debut On Your Lap (aka Pangku) was a breakout success, winning four prizes at last year’s Busan.
Khozy’s 2023 short film Basri & Salma In A Never-ending Comedy was the first Indonesian short to compete for the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Many notable Indonesian stars are featured in the anthology, including Prilly Latuconsina, Yusuf Mahardika, Arswendy Bening Swara, Agnes Naomi, Omara Esteghlal, Nazira C. Noer, Asmara Abigail and Happy Salma.
Next Step Studio is intended to revive the spirit of La Factory, a filmmaker incubator launched by Welinski at Directors’ Fortnight in 2013. La Factory hosted 10 editions, with last year’s edition on Brazil being the final.
With Indonesia as the country of focus for the inaugural Next Step Studio, Yulia Evina Bhara and Amerta Kusuma from Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media serve as producers of the anthology film. Yulia’s credits include Renoir, which played in Competition at Cannes last year; 2023 Cannes Critics’ Week grand prize winner Tiger Stripes; and Autobiography from 2022 Venice Horizons.
“In 2019, Rediance started our first collaboration with Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara on Yosep Anggi Noen’s Locarno competition entry The Science Of Fictions,” said Rediance CEO Xie Meng.
“Since then, we have been closely observing Indonesia’s growing influence as one of the most vibrant film markets in the world. This anthology spotlights the region’s fresh and emerging talents to look out for.”
Yulia and Nazira (who is also one of the co-producers) recently joined the Indonesian Film Board (BPI) as head of international cooperation and secretary general respectively, along with producer Fauzan Zidni as chairman.