Indonesian Filmmaker Kamila Andini Talks Berlinale Prize-Winner ‘Before, Now & Then’ (‘Nana’)

With a string of pageant prizes for her 4 movies, 36-year outdated writer-director Kamila Andini has established herself as a key Indonesian filmmaker to look out for. Her repertoire is made up of intimately-carved narratives pushed by sturdy feminine characters, offering an expression and voice for his or her interior lives amid harsh sociopolitical circumstances.

Nana (additionally identified by its English title, Earlier than, Now & Then) had its world premiere on the Berlinale this yr, the place Indonesian actress Laura Basuki gained the Greatest Supporting Efficiency prize. The movie additionally picked up the Jury Award on the Brussels Worldwide Movie Pageant. Nana is Andini’s fourth characteristic and she or he has beforehand helmed The Mirror By no means Lies (2011), The Seen and Unseen (2017) and Yuni (2021). Final yr, Yuni gained the Platform Prize on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant.

Not too long ago, Andini’s days have been packed, all due to Nana’s success on the Berlinale and the movie’s world launch schedule. She is at present in manufacturing for a yet-to-be-announced movie venture and likewise creating a theater present. “I by no means had this a lot alternative to launch a movie in many various international locations,” she says, about Nana. “What I talked about within the movie was very particular and likewise very refined so it has amazed me how folks can join with and relate to it.”

Set within the Nineteen Sixties in opposition to the backdrop of post-war West Java, Nana tells the story of a lady (named Nana) grappling for that means within the wake of her husband’s disappearance. “As a result of it is based mostly on an actual story, I believe it is vital for her household and kin to have her identify because the Indonesian title,” shares Andini, on the movie’s two totally different titles. “However creatively, I additionally want a title that may symbolize the concepts of the narrative.”

Pandemic restrictions proved to be a serious problem for Nana’s manufacturing. Andini stated that Covid-19 restrictions affected her complete filmmaking course of, from how she wrote the script, to the places she selected to movie in, and even how the assorted scenes had been framed. “I needed to design every part to have the ability to shoot in that point,” Andini says. She additionally needed to be significantly cautious about forming a secure “bubble” when bringing a big movie crew collectively in additional rural places.

For Andini, the movie’s representations of Sundanese tradition are private for her. The maternal aspect of Andini’s prolonged household is Sundanese and Nana marks an intimate journey into her household’s tradition and heritage. The movie is tailored from a chapter within the Indonesian novel Jais Darga Namaku by Ahda Imran. “Once I learn the story, I remembered my grandma and I felt prefer it’s a narrative of my household too,” Andini says. “Most of my films, I all the time use a sure tradition and native language however I’ve by no means made a film from my roots and personal tradition. So I believed this is able to be the time for me to speak about Sundanese [culture] and the place I am truly from.”

Whereas Andini had carried out further analysis into Sundanese tradition and language, she depended totally on her recollections of her grandmother to place collectively the sights, sounds and textures of Nana. Intergenerational reminiscence can also be a type of information, a wellspring that Andini returns to time and again. “I belief my intuitions truly, greater than analysis,” Andini says. “[For example,] the flower association was one thing that’s based mostly on my reminiscence, and textures like bamboo was one thing I felt like I wanted to have, in addition to the normal songs.”

Different features that Andini devoted a lot effort into representing and portraying properly are Nana’s interior turmoil, feelings and views. “Like my mom, my grandma, my sister and I, it is all the time good to painting a lady as a lady. They aren’t black and white, we are able to speak about any type of layers and I need not conceal something,” Andini provides. “That is what me in making Nana.”