This year, Perspektif invites the audience to imagine about the future while reflecting on what we confront right now, these days. Instead of a futuristic imagination full of sophisticated technology jargons as a solution, we want to present an observation of everyday life, from the perspective of the general society.
The program began with In Touch, a film that takes us to give meaning to the intimate relation between human and technology, something very close to our daily activities during the pandemic. Through a medium experimentation (video mapping), the filmmaker tries to build intimacy between the family in Poland and their loved ones, separated by distance all the way to Iceland. This approach creates a sensation as if they are present at the same location. Nevertheless, a paradoxical relationship emerges: technology connects them while also separates them. This phenomenon presents a dilemma, can intimacy really be achieved?
At the same time, the elaboration of film-photography media is able to capture the traumatic collective memories. Map of Latin American Dreams captures a two-decade past-present transformation convoluted with authority and power. Conflict, war, racism, as well as the dreams and hopes that stretch all the way through Latin America are knitted from the perspective of the people downtrodden by the country’s dictatorship. On the other hand, in Letters to Buriram, conflict becomes obscure and everything seems fine. The historical conflict between Asian countries like Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea doesn’t really appear on the surface, but felt. With a poetic-reflective approach, Letters to Buriram takes us to slowly enjoy the cinema as if listening to a fairytale.
The eviction in China portrayed in A New Era is an undeniable reality that also happens around us. Hotel and garden constructions—ironically labelled as ecological—forced the people of Guangzhou to live with uncertainty without a house nor a hope for the future. A similar issue also appears in Doel. In a different part of the world, a small number of people abandoned in the dead town of Belgia trying to survive within their space, regardless of the presence of a nuclear power plant and a giant container just a few metres away. Subtly, this film captures the daily life of the small Doel community that is disturbed by the economical, development, and state interests. Could all of this possibly be the new era for us? Can we imagine a different world rather than these phenomena?
Those are the points we hope to answer with Into the Movement, the last film on the list. It invites us to imagine a world with empowerment. That the collective efforts offer possibilities to stop living off a vulnerable established system. What the youth fights for in Into The Movement becomes relevant to today’s generation, who wrestles with their future: financial crisis, precarious works, never-ending house loans, and the exploitative law.
— Irfan R. Darajat & Syifanie Alexander
Programmer
