Leaf on a Pillow

Mayang, Harris, and Topan were best friends since childhood. Mayang, a columnist in a female magazine, had been married to Harris, a professional, while Topan was still single and became a photographer. Mayang and Harris went for a vacation to solve their problem. Topan was invited to join them because eventually he intended to go to the same direction. On the trip, the problems of the three unraveled. Harris had sexual difficulty because of his past trauma. Mayang, who tried to understand and help, was almost unsuccessful. Turns out Topan still harboured his childhood love for Mayang. As for the climax, Harris was suspicious towards Mayang and Topan. A film that portrays sexual problem not in a vulgar way.

In his contribution, Garin Nugroho wants to show the importance of the new and the old harbour of Jakarta. In the harbour districts Keroncong Tugu (the old district) and Tanjung Priok (the present harbour district), multicultural communities have emerged that have opened up Jakarta society towards Europe and Asia. Nugroho uses archive footage to show that the heritage of the Portuguese who exploited Indonesia before the Dutch is for instance still visible in the existence of a Portuguese community with its own music culture. The development of the harbours is important for the future, but their history also has sad stories. For instance, Nugroho points out that many wars were started about who controls a port. (Rotterdam International Film Festival)

Darta, a man from an impoverished family, is rejected by the wealthy parents of the woman he loves. Desperate, he strikes a bargain with the Monkey King, performing a dark ritual to gain wealth. However, in doing so, he accidentally curses his wife and child to a life of suffering. Rooted in Indonesian mysticism, this universal narrative explores the insatiable hunger to become something one is not and the boundaries one is willing to cross to achieve it.

In 1912, Javanese activist Omar Said Tjokroaminoto co-founds the Sarekat Islam party to fight injustices of the Dutch East Indies' colonial regime.

Layar, a popular film star who feels bored with his career wants to make a musical theater set in a family history that is always linked to Indonesian film history.

Sparks fly when a fashion blogger in Bali meets a gifted shoemaker, leading her to question her commitment to her fiancé.

As an infotainment producer deals with a work crisis, a childhood friend, who's now a cleric, arrives to honor a religious request from her late father.

A story about a court musician student man named Ilalang who is faced by his trauma while studying court music.

After encountering a group of bandits with plans to rape and steal from her, a young widow ventures into the wilderness in search of justice.

Words of poetry spell certain death when a young woman grows increasingly distraught after a string of unusual murders take place.

In 1927 colonial Indonesia, a young woman trapped as a Dutch man's concubine fights for dignity in a world that sees her as nothing more than property.

Juno was just a child when his father abandoned him from their village in Central Java. Abandoned and alone, he joins a Lengger dance centre where men shape their feminine appearance and movement. The sensuality and sexuality that came from the dance, mixed with the violent sociopolitical Indonesian environment, forces Juno to move from village to village.

A cheerful yet serious Indonesian Romeo and Juliet. A boy and a girl from the same district, but with difficult childhoods and other reasons not to acknowledge their love. Through the colourful and musical retro style - the 1970s came late to Indonesia - shines a chaotic political and social era.

Pertiwi, a strong and independent woman who took care of her three children: Adam, Sekar, and Isham until they became adults and left their hometown. Her husband died after losing the village head election against his rival, Janji Upaya. The children of Pertiwi, who blamed Janji Upaya for their father's death, harbored deep feelings of resentment towards Janji Upaya.

This is the story about Setyo, Siti and Ludiro, who were the performer of Javanese Ramayana's Wayang Wong. Setyo and Siti are spouse who live in a village by selling earthenware products. In the village, live as well Ludiro, the head of the stockyard, who is very wealthy and secretly in love with Siti. Conflicts arrived as Setyo's earthenware company is going bankrupt and Siti started to took notice in Ludiro's desire to win her love. These triangle love transform into a civil war in the village that brings not only extremity and injustice, but also the death of the loved ones.

Southeast Asia Cinema - When the rooster crows is a voice of diversity reaching for change. Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Garin Nugroho, Pen Ek Ratanaruang give voice to a region rich with traditions, ethnic groups, languages, politics, and religions. It is cinema, at its purest form, fighting for freedom of expression, documenting real lives of ordinary people, giving voice to the underdogs and the outcasts. The amalgamation of these aspects gives birth to an ultra-neo-realistic cinema language currently unique to films from this region.