ACF - Asian Cinema Fund

2013 Script Development Fund

LIST The Science of Fictions

Synopsis

In 1962, SIMAN, a solitary farmer, came to Gumuk, sandy bare land. Siman was witnessing a shooting of a fiction film about man landing on the moon. It was an unlucky day for him, Siman was caught by the army and got his tongue chopped off.
Soekarno, the first president of Republic Indonesia, came to Gumuk, brought with him a Bolex 8mm camera. From the distance, he made a “the making of” man-landing-on-the-moon film. And the politics went so wrong.
Under the new regime, A New Order of Soeharto, Siman was then being named as an insane person because he often moves stupidly, acting as if he is walking on the moon. Siman built a strange cubical building looking like a robotic machine that he saw in the sands. Siman designed an astronaut costume, and always wears it with a white helmet every time.
All the villagers agree that Siman is insane, but what he did is actually the only way he knows to show the truth. He is the only one who knew about the world’s biggest lie.

Director's Note

I feel challenged to make my own version of a science-fiction film. My intention is to find possibilities of making a cheap science-fiction, something close to my reality and enigmatic.
History is to be written by the winner, as said by an old proverb. But in this digital era, history can be written by anyone. I am about to give alternative fiction stories from my nation’s history. The most fictional era in Indonesia was the time when Soekarno, the first president, was replaced by Soeharto by a coup. Nobody knew about the real situation or you could say the truth at the time.
All will look empirical; all the stories from many sources will make us drown into all that is fiction. Repeated lies, confronted with other lies will lead to the understanding of truth.

Festivals

2019 Locarno International Film Festival - Special Mention
2019 Busan Internatioal Film Festival - A Window on Asian Cinema

Still Cut

LIST