Thrilled to announce that the short film MY PLASTIC MOTHER, by Amar Haikal, is an Official Selection at the 36th Singapore International Film Festival. The festival will take place from 26th November – 7th December this year.

This is the fourth Hollywood Oscar qualifying festival to select this masterpiece produced in Indonesia.

MY PLASTIC MOTHER, aka ANAK MACAN, will be eligible for the following awards: Best Southeast Asian Short Film, Best Director, Best Performance, Best Singapore Short Film and Best Cinematography.

Amar Haikal will attend the screening in Singapore alongside the film’s lead actor, Muhammad Alfat Apriansyah, who gives an outstanding performance.

This is Amar Haikal’s first production distributed by Mailuki Films on the international film festival circuit.
A very young author with enormous talent.

MY PLASTIC MOTHER will premiere worldwide in November at two film events that qualify for the Hollywood Oscars: Leeds International Film Festival, in UK; and Beirut International Short Film Festival, in Lebanon.

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.

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.

Stay tuned!! In the coming days, we will announce new selections for this magnificent Asian production.

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