By Reza Mardian
It was announced on Friday, January 10th 2025, that Kamila Andini‘s next feature “Four Seasons in Java” was selected as one of 35 projects from 27 countries in the Berlinale Co-production Market. The film will be penned by Isfansyah who has been producing Andini’s feature since her sophomore feature directorial debut “The Seen and Unseen”.
This will not be Isfansyah and Andini’s first time in Berlin. Andini’s fourth feature, “Before, Now, and Then,” was selected as the main competition in the 2022 Berlinale. The film eventually won the Silver Bear for Supporting Performance for Laura Basuki. It even won five categories at the Indonesian Film Festival ‘Festival Film Indonesia’ (FFI), including Best Picture. FFI is considered the highest and the most prestigious award for film as it involves juries, the Indonesian version of the Academy, and all the film guild associations.
Since her first feature debut, Andini–who also writes screenplays–has always been fascinated with stories from the angle of women. In “The Mirror Never Lies” (2010), she captured the complex mother-daughter relationship living in Bajo. “The Seen and Unseen” explores grief in the form of theatricality from the perspective of a sister who’s going to lose her twin brother. “Yuni” is a beautiful coming of age of a teenage girl trapped in marriage proposals, and “Before, Now and Then” tells a story about a woman befriending her husband’s mistress in 1960s Indonesia.
Andini usually captures more domestic angles of women. However, In “Four Seasons of Java”, she seems to take on a more traumatic theme. Cited from Letterboxd, the story centers on Pertiwi returning to her hometown and facing four stories from her past, each corresponding to a particular season. In winter when she was raped by a dozen men until she was dazed. In spring, the time of solitude. In summer, when her family was constantly threatened. And in autumn, when she contemplated the person she loves. In Mubi, it is hinted that the protagonist used to be in prison and the film will follow her journey to heal. The film is expected to start production this year.
The Berlinale Co-Production Market will be conducted from February 15 to 19. As cited from their website, the market will not just conduct the matchmaking for the selected participants, but also the five most renowned production companies will be presented in the exclusive “Company Matching Programme”. In addition to that, ten upcoming producers have been selected to present their projects at the “Talent Project Market” in Berlinale Talents.
“Four Seasons in Java” was selected under the “Rotterdam-Berlin Express”. Forka, Isfansyah’s production company, is one of three Indonesian production houses and projects that got selected in the market. KawanKawan Media will participate in the Company Matching Program. Director of the 2023 JAFF’s Golden Hanoman winner Riar Rizaldi ‘s next feature “Mirage: Eigenstate” will also participate in the “Forum Expanded”
–Reza Mardian has been writing for film reviews and commentaries since 2017. He writes in The Jakarta Post, The Next Best Picture, Magdalene, and his TikTok Channel @kelitikfilm. He is the recipient of the best film critic award in Festival Film Indonesia (FFI) 2024
