KK International Film Festival, Night 3
The KKIFF
Since 2009, the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) has been bringing international movies to Sabah, promoting emerging regional filmmakers, and training young people for the film industry.
Film Line-up
Tinalangan
Based on an actual occurrence, when a young Tobilung man disappears in the forest, the people say that he has ventured to another World with the Bunian/Elf people who co-exist with our World.
His wife consults a Boblian/Priestess to get him back. She performs a ceremony with the help of the Komburongoh/Sacred Medium who can communicate with the unseen and gods. But after the young man's body has been found, another ceremony (Monoriuk) is needed to bring his soul back.
Mentawai - Souls of the Forest
The last indigenous people of Mentawai, a small group of islands south-west of Sumatra, are fighting with creative resistance to preserve their ancient culture and the rainforest where they live.
After 30 years of democratization in Indonesia, Jakarta is now enforcing deforestation in Mentawai. In collaboration with investigative journalist, Febrianti, and indigenous foundations, our film portrays this indigenous culture, showing its history and resistance up to the most recent geopolitical developments in Indonesia's growing environmental degradation. Now logging companies threaten the fragile eco-system of the islands.
The cinematic and compassionate camera conveys an intimate and sensual experience of indigenous life on Mentawai with its beauty and vulnerability. Three shamans are the main characters in the film, hunter-gatherers in a culture that predates even traditions of weaving or pottery, but full of archaic traditions with their own complexity.
Rare historic footage and archive materials open up the decades of oppression the tribes have faced – and we also see their resilience, with the younger generation joining the main characters in their fight for the preservation of their environment and culture.
The project was an indigenous initiative. Martison Siritoitet from the Indigenous Foundation and Suku Mentawai (sukumentawai.org) invited director Joo Peter to Mentawai, starting a long collaboration that included the Mentawai Indigenous Education Program (IEFprograms.org).
Joo Peter (director) and Martison Siritoitet will be present at the screening of the film.
Organiser of this event
How to get to this event?
City Cineplex
2nd Floor, City Mall Shopping Centre, Jalan Lintas, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.