Cultural Specificity in Indonesian Film ― Diversity in Unity

This book explores ways in which diverse regional cultures in Indonesia and their histories have been expressed in film since the early 1950s. It also explores underlying cultural dominants within the new nation, established at the end of 1949 with the achievement of independence from Dutch colonialism. It sees these dominants—for example forms of group body language and forms of consultation—not simply as a product of the nation, but as related to unique and long standing formations and traditions in the numerous societies in the Indonesian archipelago, on which the nation is based. Nevertheless, the book is not concerned only with past traditions, but explores ways in which Indonesian filmmakers have addressed, critically, distinctive aspects of their traditional societies in their feature films (including at times the social position of women), linking past to the present, where relevant, in dynamic ways.

David Hanan is Adjunct Senior Research Associate of Film and Screen Studies at the School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University, Australia. He has published widely on Indonesian cinema, including articles and book chapters published by the East-West Film Journal, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Hong Kong UP, the prestigious Cornell based journal Indonesia, Oxford Islamic Studies online, and Third Text.