Academy Award Qualifying Festival!

Don’t miss it!!
We now know the screening date for the short film MY PLASTIC MOTHER, by the brilliant Indonesian filmmaker Amar Haikal, at the 50th Atlanta Film Festival.
It will be on Saturday 2 May at 5.00 pm at the renovated Tara Theatre | Jack Auditorium

Amar Haikal has confirmed that he will be attending to present the short film in person.

MY PLASTIC MOTHER, also known as ANAK MACAN, is officially in the running for the 2027 Hollywood Oscars following its unanimous triumph at the Flickerfest International Film Festival in Australia, where it won the Grand Jury Prize.

MY PLASTIC MOTHER had its world premiere at Leeds International Film Festival in the UK and at Beirut Shorts International Film Festival in Lebanon.

Since then, he has built up an impressive list of achievements in competitions around the world.

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 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.

MY PLASTIC MOTHER stars the very young Muhammad Alfat Apriansyah, who has received recognition and nominations at some of the most prestigious events, such as the Singapore International Film Festival.