Jury Special Mention (2020)
Help Is On The Way
202091 minPG
Awardee
Best Indonesia Feature-length DocumentaryFestival Film Dokumenter
2020
Synopsis
Every year, hundreds of women like Sukma, Meri, Muji and Tari are recruited by local agents who are remunerated after successfully seeing their recruits enrolled in local training centers. They are among the many women from rural areas aspiring to work in countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Within the corrupt systems of recruitment, training and placement, millions of rural Indonesian women place their hopes and dreams in domestic care roles overseas. Can competent help be delivered when the path is broken?
Credits
Director
Ismail Fahmi Lubis
Ismail enrolled in the Institut Kesenian Jakarta (IKJ) in 1993, majoring in Film and Directing. Upon his graduation, he directed several Indonesian television drama series before switching his focus to documentary in 1998. As a cinematographer, Ismail has worked with notable filmmakers including Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich (Shape of the Moon, 2004) and Australia’s Cathy Henkel (The Burning Season, 2008). He has directed three feature documentaries including Masked Monkey (2014), Tarling is Darling (2017), and Help is on the Way (2020). His films have screened at Rotterdam IFF, Busan IFF, Jean Rouch IFF, Doc Point Documentary Film Festival and Taiwan IFF amongst others. His films have been broadcast on PTS Taiwan, EBS South Korea, Al Jazeera and GoPlay Indonesia. With Ismail’s first two documentaries nominated for Indonesia’s Best Feature Documentary Award at Festival Film Indonesia and Help is on the Way (2020) won the award in 2019.
