Portugal!!

Thrilled to announce that «My Plastic Mother», by Amar Haikal, is part of the Official Selection of the 13th Leiria Film Fest’s edition, in the International Fiction Competition! Congratulations!

Leiria Film Fest takes place from May 5th to the 10th, 2026, at Teatro Miguel Franco, in Leiria city (Portugal)

“My Plastic Mother” is an Indonesian film that has officially been selected to kick off the race for the Hollywood Oscars following its undisputed victory at the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in Australia.

‘My Plastic Mother’ has been screened at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including the Leeds International Film Festival in the UK, the Beirut Shorts International Film Festival in Lebanon, and the Singapore International Film Festival in Singapore.

This week it is competing at the Atlanta Film Festival, marking its US premiere.

The screening in Atlanta will take place this Saturday during prime time at the renovated Tara cinemas.

‘My Plastic Mother’, also known as Anak Macan, is the great hope for Asian cinema at the upcoming Oscars in Hollywood.

Amar Haikal is an author with a great personality and an amazing talent.

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.