Co-producer Ekky Imanjaya made a statement after the screening of Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic, “David’s question when putting together this movie was, ‘Suzzanna is really great, but not that popular. Why?’”
The screening of Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic (David Gregory, 2024) in the program Lanskap: Ghost Culture took place at Militaire Societeit, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta on November 3, 2024 at 13.00 WIB. The film tells the story of Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch’s life, a horror movie star of the New Order era, closely through speeches and snippets of interviews with researchers, filmmakers, relatives, and Suzzanna herself. After the screening, the audience had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session with the filmmakers. In attendance was Ekky Imanjaya who is the co-producer of Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic (2024).
In the Q&A session, Ekky said that the archive and production process was an obstacle in the making of the film. “For certain footages, apart from being difficult to find, sometimes it costs money (to buy the footage), as well as licensing.” Collecting Suzzanna’s old photos presented a new challenge. “Initially it was Joko Anwar, but it was handed over to me,” said Ekky when explaining the co-producer position.
The production team of Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic (2024) not only sought out documentation at the National Archives of Indonesia, they also had to fly to the Netherlands to explore old Indonesian media archives. Not only searching for data, the production team also had to translate the research results obtained because David Gregory, the producer and director, did not use Indonesian as the main language. Nevertheless, the challenging production process paid off with the screening of Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic (2024) at the Sitges Catalonian International Film Festival 2024.
Not only talking about Suzzanna and her life, Suzzanna – The Queen of Black Magic (2024) reveals the impact of Suzzanna’s films on Indonesian media studies, the condition of class politics at the time, the public’s sense of humor, and the socio-economic conditions of the New Order. Like a snippet of Suzzanna’s speech that is sailed in this documentary: Why are you afraid of horror movies? Horror is a healthy entertainment for your heart.
Suzzanna in Suzzanna – The Queen of Blackmagic (2024) will still be available to watch at Amphitheater Taman Budaya Yogyakarta on November 8, 2024, at 19.00 WIB.
Covered by Tuffahati Athallah on 3 November 2024. (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Naufal Shabri)
