Eka Fadila Cindy Kirani

Kirana has an older sister who excels academically and has always been a source of pride for her parents. For as long as she can remember, Kirana has been constantly compared to her sister because she isn’t academically gifted. Then, one tragic day, her sister died in an accident while on her way to a theater performance; from that point on, her mother began to resent Kirana’s involvement in theater and put even more pressure on her. Kirana always tried to explain her goals in theater and the positive things she gained from it, but she always received a negative response from her mother. Kirana had no one to confide in—until one day, someone approached her and was willing to lend a listening ear.

Rian, the director who stunned the world with his debut, is now a prisoner of his own success. The spotlight that once illuminated his genius has become a scorching lens, magnifying the crushing demands of producers, the stifling hunger of the audience, and the paralyzing doubt cast by his own father. Rian yearns for bold experimentation, but finds himself shackled to the market-tested echoes of his past work, trapped in The Iron Lung of expectation. The Iron Lung is a visceral story of artistic suffocation and rebirth, asking a single question: What does it take for a visionary to choose freedom of expression over the comfortable silence of surrender?