Yesterday, the Indonesian Academy Awards Selection Committee selected arthouse/drama film Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku (Memories of My Body) as Indonesia’s submission to compete in the Best International Feature Film (previously called Best Foreign Language Film) category at next year’s Academy Awards. Written and directed by Garin Nugroho, Kucumbu beat out two other entries, Ave Maryam by Robby Ertanto and 27 Steps of May by Ravi Bharwani.
This is Garin’s second film to be selected as Indonesia’s submission to the Oscars, with his first being Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on a Pillow) in 1998. In 2017, Turah (Leftovers), a film by Kucumbu’s production company, Yogyakarta-based Fourcolours Films, was also chosen to represent the country at the Oscars.
Kucumbu recounts the life story of a lengger dancer in Central Java named Juno. After his father left him when he was young, Juno has to live with different relatives throughout his formative years, facing several traumatic experiences along the way. Juno, who began struggling with his sexuality when he was a teenager, joins a traditional dance company that performs lengger, a genre in which male dancers can assume female appearances.
The film was inspired by real-life dancer and choreographer named Rianto, who hails from the Central Java city of Banyumas. Just like Juno, Rianto was trained in classical Javanese dance and specializes in lengger.
Kucumbu premiered at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, and was also screened at Festival Des 3 Continents in France. The film had its Indonesian premiere at Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in December 2018, but the cinematic release was in April of this year.
Last year alone, Kucumbu received several national and international awards, such as the Bisato D’oro Award Venice Independent Film Critic, Best Film at Festival Des 3 Continents, and Cultural Diversity Award under The Patronage of UNESCO at Asia Pasific Screen Awards (Australia).
Garin said he was surprised upon the film being selected to represent the country due to its sensitive subject matter.
“Such a surprising and daring selection, because the theme is sensitive, but it also shows the judges’ respect to the value of cultural diversity, as every human has the right to live in peaceful diversity without violence, discrimination and persecution,” Garid said in a release, as picked up by Tirto today.
“Hopefully the selection will have have the effect of increasing freedom of expression in Indonesia’s film industry, as well as opening the eyes of people or groups who opposed the screening of this film in its own country. Indonesia should uphold diversity to be a better nation,” the film’s producer Ifa Isfansyah said.
During its cinematic run in Indonesia, Kucumbu attracted a slew of controversies as it was accused of advocating for LGBT rights. Several conservative groups made petitions to have it banned and there were widespread boycotts of the film in several cities such as Depok in West Java and the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak.
On Sunday, a screening of Kucumbu at an event in the Central Java capital of Semarang faced resistance by members of hardline group the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), but the event went ahead as planned with police providing security.
Since it first started submitting films to the Oscars in 1987, none of Indonesia’s official selections have earned a nomination for Best Foreign Language category (the critically acclaimed 2013 documentary The Act of Killing and its follow-up, 2015’s The Look of Silence, both pertaining to the 1965 mass killings in Indonesia, did receive nominations in the Best Documentary Feature category however).
Will Kucumbu break the streak and be the first Indonesian film to earn a best foreign film Oscar nod? We’ll have to wait until late January when the nominations for the 2020 Academy Awards are announced.
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