{"id":56632,"date":"2025-11-08T23:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/?p=56632"},"modified":"2025-11-08T23:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T16:25:10","slug":"the-silenced-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/film-review-en\/the-silenced-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"Aftermaths of the Green Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 19th 2024, an exhibition titled \u201cKebangkitan: Tanah untuk Kedaulatan Pangan\u201d (lit. The Rise of Earth for Food Sovereignty) was intended to showcase the works of well-renowned artist Yos Suprapto. The show was canceled a few minutes before its opening in Indonesia\u2019s National Gallery. The entrance was locked and the lights were shut in front of the visitors that were eager to observe the artworks shown at the exhibition.<\/p>\n

The cancellation was supposedly triggered by a disagreement between the curator, gallery, and artist himself. Although, saying that it is a \u201cdisagreement\u201d was an understatement. The curator told the press that he thought some of its paintings don\u2019t align with the themes of the exhibition. But Suprapto eloquently elaborates, even in concise statements, that his paintings were in fact abiding by the exhibition\u2019s theme\u2014and his explanations make perfect sense. As a result, most people don\u2019t buy into this narrative. Most people see this as the government using its powers unjustly to silence Suprapto\u2019s freedom to express himself through the arts because some of the artworks show vulgar and satirical depictions of ex-president Joko Widodo and other figures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yos Suprapto himself theorises that the problem is bigger than all that is said and known. He said, \u201cThe title [of the exhibition] was never highlighted by writers and journalists,\u201d implying that whoever shuts down his exhibition does not want whatever Suprapto\u2019s message was to be told to the masses.<\/p>\n

The Silenced Soil<\/em> (Dara Asia, 2025) is an expository documentary that explains Yos Suprapto\u2019s side of the story, and more importantly, its bigger implications. He claims that it\u2019s not only a suppression of his freedom of expression, but it is a way for the government to hide the truth from ever coming out: not only that the practices derived from The New Order\u2019s green revolution continues to deteriorate the quality of Indonesian soil, but it also upholds the chemical-based fertilizer manufacturers power over the local farmers. The documentary then shows the results of Suprapto\u2019s research, which was focused on an alternative from the common practice of farming with chemicals. Suprapto advocates for a system that utilizes organic materials, and most importantly, the system that does not kill the microorganisms that makes the quality of soil so much better. That can be achieved through what is called a \u201ctropical biodynamic system\u201d. But, a better system could not be guaranteed if the government prioritizes the welfare of capitalist entities rather than the farmers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the green revolution create a dependency between the farmers and the use of chemicals, deteriorates the quality of soil and the ecosystem within it, and further prolonging class discrepancy by making the access to chemical inputs and current farming technology harder for small-scale farmers\u2014we should be more wary towards the powers that let this happen in the first place. Speak even when the state silences you, scream if you have to. Uncover the hidden truths within the country that conceals too much for a long, long time. (Timmie) (Ed. Vanis)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Film Details <\/strong>
\nThe Silenced Soil
\nDara Asia | 13 min | 2025 | D.I. Yogyakarta, Indonesia
\nOfficial Selection for Lanskap<\/strong>
\nFestival Film Dokumenter 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On December 19th 2024, an exhibition titled \u201cKebangkitan: Tanah untuk Kedaulatan Pangan\u201d (lit. The Rise of Earth for Food Sovereignty) was intended to showcase the works of well-renowned artist Yos Suprapto. The show was canceled a few minutes before its opening in Indonesia\u2019s National Gallery. The entrance was locked and the lights were shut in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":54778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"edition":[781],"class_list":["post-56632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-review-en","edition-ffd-2025-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56632"},{"taxonomy":"edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffd.or.id\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/edition?post=56632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}