{"id":205707,"date":"2025-01-21T22:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T21:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/?p=205707"},"modified":"2025-04-17T17:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T15:15:29","slug":"blog-im-portraying-a-shared-history-mouly-surya-on-the-iffr-2025-closing-film-this-city-is-a-battlefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iffr.com\/en\/blog-im-portraying-a-shared-history-mouly-surya-on-the-iffr-2025-closing-film-this-city-is-a-battlefield","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI’m portraying a shared history\u201d: Mouly Surya on the IFFR 2025 closing film This City Is a Battlefield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI think a lot of what is happening in the world right now traces back to World War II\u201d says Mouly Surya, the Indonesian filmmaker behind the IFFR 2025 closing film This City Is a Battlefield<\/strong> (released in the Netherlands as\u00a0Djakarta 1946<\/strong>), explaining one of the many reasons why this period in Southeast Asian history demands our attention. Her 1946-set historical thriller follows Indonesia’s struggle for independence from Dutch colonial rule, marrying bloody action spectacle with seductive romance, jazz and rich period settings that tell a glaringly relevant story of the impact of war on ordinary people.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Surya’s previous film was the Netflix title Trigger Warning <\/strong>(2024) starring Jessica Alba. \u201cI learned from America how to push myself and how not to censor myself.\u201d Instead of worrying that they didn\u2019t have the budget for particular scenes, she found ways to be creative. \u201cLet’s try it. What’s the worst thing that can happen?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI don’t want to be known as just <\/em>a female director\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That the film takes a close look at fragile masculinity also marks a departure for Surya, who across her previous work became synonymous with strong female characters.  \u201cI don’t want to be known as just a female director. It’s kind of annoying\u201d, as she explains how she\u2019d like to shrug off this label. \u201cA male director wouldn’t be acknowledged as a male director.\u201d Instead she wants to indulge in the craft and set-out to make something akin to a Hollywood classic fused with local textures \u2013 \u201cI love the art of filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She drew on her family history and the immediate relatives who lived through this period in Indonesia\u2019s history to find her own perspective on the time. \u201cIt was a lot of trying to dig up memories\u201d recalling how her uncle and father as fluent Dutch speakers would drop words into their sentences. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what any of it meant. That was how I actually made progress writing this movie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film still: This City Is a Battlefield<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI think the development fund definitely pushes a script forward\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one of the ways in which she approaches Indonesia\u2019s colonial rule with a delicate complexity that looks into its deep cultural effects. For this she knew she wanted to work with a Dutch co-producer to offer creative input. Rotterdam\u2019s Volya Films came onboard the project, and the film was supported on several occasions by IFFR\u2019s Hubert Bals Fund \u2013 an important vote of confidence along the film\u2019s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s very hard to make a script because you don’t know which way is forward and which way is back\u201d, she reflects on receiving Hubert Bals Fund Development Support. \u201cI think the development fund definitely pushes a script forward.\u201d It helped to fund research costs and translators, and later, with funds to support the film\u2019s production and post-production offered by the Hubert Bals Fund in collaboration with the Netherlands Film Fund, meant they could hire professional actors from the Netherlands for the Dutch roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film still: This City Is a Battlefield<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt feels like half of the DNA of the film is in the Netherlands\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Apart from a few nerves about whether she got those bits of Dutch nuance perfectly correct, she\u2019s thrilled to screen it at the festival\u2019s closing night. \u201cIt feels like half of the DNA of the film is in the Netherlands. I’m portraying a shared history as well, and I hope I did that justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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A list with articles<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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