Have you ever wondered the reason why the films were made while you were watching them? Or, how was the creative work behind them? Constructed (Jonathan Gradiyan, 2025) takes us behind the scenes of a documentary. Designing creative ideas that are being constructed, exposed, and then it is discussed by Bikeska, Paul, Arrivo, and Raihanul. The four are Film Department students at IKJ working on a project for Praktika Terpadu (Integrated Practices).
Their limited budget lets them choose documentary films as the vessel for their creation. Although documentary films are not considered as prestigious as fictional films, they believe that documentaries have the ability to respond to what is happening in this world more honestly. At the same time, it also strengthened them to work on the project after 12 years of absence from Integrated Practices.
This black-and-white documentary seeks to deconstruct the audience’s understanding of fiction and nonfiction, as well as the reality and the others in the making of Anatomy of Becoming (Bikeska Sanara, 2024), although, in fact, they record images with techniques that are arranged and structured like fictional films. This process raises questions about what they are working on: recording reality or constructing it?
We can read this documentary as a behind-the-scenes documentary. Perhaps, this could be an offer to process behind the scenes into one’s own work with another idea–a different narrative, not just as documentation that settles and becomes a dead archive. (Ahmad Radhitya Alam) (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Shafira Rahmasari)
Film Details
Constructed
Jonathan Gradiyan | 10 min | 2025 | DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
In Competition for Student Documentary
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
