Indonesia’s Giovanni Rustanto brings “A Ballad of Prolonged Hair” to the 2023 Taiwan Inventive Notify material Fest, its newest finish on a tour of mission markets and labs.
Region within the Nineties, the mission centers round an Indonesian-Chinese language younger man who inherits a magical trait from his witch mother – his hair grows half a centimeter every night. Possessing mesmerizingly lengthy hair and a diverse abilities for ethereal metal music, he stands up towards oppressive forces and sparks a formative years rebel that challenges toxic masculinity and authorities corruption.
Inspiration for the mission comes from Rustanto’s hang childhood experiences, which incorporated a fight for identity as a Chinese language minority in Indonesia, a turbulent political climate and a lack of parental luxuriate in and toughen.
“This movie is dedicated to these which have confronted an identical struggles. My mother aged to cut my hair very instant to transfer to varsity and even burn my CDs when she stumbled on out that I listened to metal music. My hang model, music and preferences were no longer notorious. I had no room to advise my identity and no likelihood to be understood by my family, which resulted in a fixed feeling of loneliness,” mentioned Rustanto.
“Now in my forties, I realize this militaristic plan is no longer over yet, even after the downfall of our dictatorship and the appearance of the Contemporary Repeat period. Many kids are accumulated eager for freedom. This motivates me to reimagine my ‘wasted’ formative years as a canvas to advise liberation, reconciliation, luxuriate in and redemption.”
The movie will be produced by Sinema 5, a platform for emerging filmmakers in Indonesia, in co-manufacturing with Akanga Film Asia from Singapore. The mission modified into launched final year through just a few movie development labs similar to the Jakarta Film Week Producers Lab, SGIFF Southeast Asian Film Lab, the contrivance the save apart Rustanto met Akanga’s Fran Borgia, and the Fullcicle’ Inventive Producer Lab, the save apart the mission modified into named as the most promising mission. It subsequent participates on the mylab+Jogja lab later this month.
“‘A Ballad of Prolonged Hair’ is a extraordinarily interior most mission that combines sides of tale, comedy, socio-political drama and magical realism with rock music,” mentioned Borgia. “I felt very discontinuance to Rustanto’s sensitivities and motivations.”
The mission is budgeted at $1.1 million, of which $123,000 has been already secured.
