Seno Joko Suyono

Sumirah, the wife of a pedicab driver, is pressured by the local landlord Den Bei Hardjo to marry him with the promise of wealth. She rejects the offer. Den Bei Hardjo threatens to evict her family for failing to pay their rent. Sumirah’s beauty becomes a curse; in addition to suffering from poverty and tuberculosis, her husband, Amat, leaves her out of jealousy. Only her son, Ali, remains by her side.

Mahendraparvata’s theme is Java’s connection with Cambodia in the 8th – 9th centuries AD which is told through the metaphor of a sacred mask’s magical journey drifting in a Java river and then arriving at a river in the Phnom Kullen area, Cambodia where the Mahendraparvata site is located and then returning to the river in Java (Borobudur area).