Four Indonesian short films, each co-directed with a Southeast Asian counterpart, will world premiere at the Critics’ Week sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, with Jakarta-based KawanKawan Media uveiling the official trailer for the anthology on Tuesday.
The program, “Next Step Studio Indonesia 2026,” marks the first Indonesian edition of Next Step Studio, an initiative created by Critics’ Week that pairs local directors with international counterparts to co-write and co-direct short films shot in the host country. Four Indonesian directors each collaborated with a fellow Southeast Asian filmmaker: Reza Fahriyansyah with Ananth Subramaniam of Malaysia, Shelby Kho with Sein Lyan Tun of Myanmar, Reza Rahadian with Sam Manacsa of the Philippines, and Khozy Rizal with Lam Li Shuen of Singapore. All four films were shot on location in Jakarta.
The quartet comprises “Holy Crowd,” directed by Fahriyansyah and Subramaniam and starring Prilly Latuconsina, Yusuf Mahardika, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin, and Arswendy Bening Swara; “Original Wound,” directed by Kho and Lyan Tun, with Agnes Naomi Shivapriya, Omara Esteghlal, and Vivian Idris; “Annisa,” directed by Rahadian and Manacsa, featuring Choirunnisa Fernanda, Nazira C. Noer, and Shakeel Fauzi; and “Mothers Are Mothering,” directed by Rizal and Li Shuen, with Happy Salma, Asmara Abigail, and Tajudin.
“It took me more than two years to convince them that Indonesia deserves to be the country of focus, and I am delighted that we can finally present four short films by these eight directors at Critics’ Week,” said Yulia Evina Bhara, producer at KawanKawan Media.
The anthology is produced by Bhara and Amerta Kusuma of KawanKawan Media, and co-produced by Dominique Welinski, the program’s originator and curator, alongside Fanni Mardhotillah, Hannan Cinthya, and Noer. A group of prominent figures from the Indonesian industry serve as executive producers, among them Angga Dwimas Sasongko, Dian Sastrowardoyo, and Latuconsina – who also appears in “Holy Crowd.”
“Next Step Studio gives stories from Indonesia and Southeast Asia the chance to be heard and discussed more widely,” said Rahadian. “This collaboration is also an opportunity for us as fellow Southeast Asian filmmakers to communicate with one another, and a momentum in our process of growing together to produce our best future works.”
The project has the backing of the Jakarta Provincial Government, the Indonesian Ministry of Culture, and the French Embassy in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and ASEAN. Fauzan Zidni, chair of the Indonesian Film Board, called the Critics’ Week premiere a milestone for Indonesian cinema on the global stage.
The concept originated as La Factory at the Filmmaker’s Fortnight in 2013 and has since rotated annually through different countries, with each edition bringing together four local and four international directors.
Watch the trailer here:
English (US) ·