BIFF 2023: Short Documentaries in Competition

Film: Behind the Seen

World Premiere

Director: Robin Gurney & Lawrence Blair

Country: Indonesia

Language: English

Duration: 21 min

Category: Short Documentary 

Synopsis: Dr. Lawrence Blair, of Ring of Fire, takes us on an adventure cruise through the remote Forgotten Islands of Indonesia, ‘seeing’ the world anew through the latest discoveries of the biological sciences, which suggest that Nature is alive with hidden intelligence. An adventure of the mind and the heart.

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Film: 50 Years around the Sun

International Premiere

Director: Wyatt Daily

Country: USA

Language: English

Duration: 10 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: A film about the life and philosophy of perhaps the most impactful surf film of all time: Morning of the Earth. 50 years after its 1972 release.

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Film: Forgotten

World Premiere

Director: Roberto Natali

Country: Indonesia

Language: English, Indonesian

Duration: 31 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: Bali hides a severe clean water issue. Villagers in rural areas use toxic water daily and the city's polluted rivers are compromising the population's health.

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Film: Under Your Feet

World Premiere

Director: A. J. Kelly

Country: Indonesian

Language: Indonesian

Duration: 12 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: The LZ Tile House in Lasem was once the center of tile production and trade in the 1900s, which was its heyday. Tiles from the Leipziger Comment Tegelfabriek became the foothold and decorated the houses of historical figures.

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Film: Lolitha

Director: Azalia Muchransyah

Country: Indonesia

Language: Indonesian

Duration: 20 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis : Lolitha is a transwoman from Papua who is HIV-positive. She shares her stories about her queer awakening, her difficult days selling sex in the streets of Jayapura, her activism, and her philosophical analysis of her intersectional identities.

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Film: The Spider Whisperer

World Premiere

Director: Amélie Jaya

Country: Indonesian

Language: Indonesian

Duration: 7 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: One day, thousands of spiders invaded the house of a farmer, Luh Sukarmi in Bali (Indonesia) and they never left again. What is she going to do?

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Film: Achewiq, The Song of the Brave Women

Asian Premiere

Director: Elina Kastler

Country: Algeria, France

Language: Berber, French

Duration: 16 min

Category: Short Documentary

Synopsis: The traditional improvisational song of the Northern Algerian Berbers is called Achewiq. It is a vehicle for women to express their feelings and deal with disasters.

NOTE :

*All non English language films will have English subtitles

*Program and Schedule subject to change