Thrilled to announce that Amar Haikal’s MY PLASTIC MOTHER, aka ANAK MACAN, has been NOMINATED for Best Short Film at the Festival Film Indonesia/ The Indonesian Film Industry Awards.
These awards were created with the clear intention of becoming a benchmark for national film academies, such as Spain’s Goya Awards and France’s César Awards.
My Plastic Mother will have its world premiere at the Leeds International Film Festival in the United Kingdom. This film event is a qualifier for the Oscars Awards and the European Film Awards.
This magnificent Indonesian production is garnering selections at other Oscar-qualifying film festivals in its first month on the festival circuit.
One example is the Beirut International Short Film Festival in Lebanon.
My Plastic Mother stars Muhammad Alfat Apriansyah , who does a wonderful job.
My Plastic Mother is the first short film directed by the prodigious Amar Haikal, distributed by Mailuki Films.
And if Amar Haikal is Indonesia’s most promising young filmmaker, Michael Rainheart is the producer with the most interesting projects in South Asia.
Director’s Statement:
I grew up without my mother. As a kid, I did not really consider it to be a problem until I saw the relationship my classmates had with their mothers. For example, family photo days in elementary school were always a terror; the other kids brought in photographs of their whole family, and all mine had was just a photo of me and my father. It made me feel incomplete. I would then end up crafting well-thought-out lies to my friends about my mother working overseas. I slowly became a very troublesome and hurtful kid, to the point of expulsion in the sixth grade. As I reflect, the frustration and confusion that I kept to myself were the one that led me to hurt others around me.
With this film, I want to encapsulate those years of my childhood. It is a story about longing and the desire we all have to feel complete, interpreted through the pure desire of a child. The protagonist is a naughty, harsh boy that secretly keeps a lot of pain inside – which is also a trait most male don’t get the chance to outgrow.
In 2021, as I was shooting a documentary project in the landfill of Bantar Gebang, a huge landslide happened. Burying hundreds of old public graveyards with plastic waste sent from the capital, Jakarta. The locals refer to the kids who play in the landfill as “Anak Macan” or “Tiger Boy” due to their reckless nature. But I see it as an ironic relation to the mascot of Jakarta, the Kemayoran Tiger. All the characters in this film are played by non-professional actors, they are the kids who live in Bantar Gebang. This story is theirs as much as it is mine.
Synopsis:
Eki, living by the landfill, searches for a memento to honor his late mother. Battling the relentless rain, landslides, and looming threats from scavengers and machinery, he fears her memory could be lost beneath the waste forever.
Stay tuned. In a few days, we will announce new successes for this impressive short film that promises to conquer the international film festival circuit.
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