''Prenjak'' is an Indonesian

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, written and directed by

Wregas Bhanuteja Raphael Wregas Bhanuteja is an Indonesian film director and screenwriter. In 2016, Wregas became the first Indonesian director to win an award at Cannes Film Festival, for his short film '' Prenjak''. Biography Wregas Bhanuteja was born i ...

. In 2016, it became the first Indonesian film to win an award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Cast

The film stars Rosa Winenggar as Diah, Yohanes Budyambara as Jarwo, Hosea Hatmaji, and Banyu Bening.

Production

''Prenjak'' is a Javanese name for a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

. The shooting of the film took place for two days in Yogyakarta in February 2016. The film was directed by Wregas Bhanuteja. The other crews and casts were his friends. The editing process was done for a week. The budget of the film was 3 million rupiah that was from his friends in Studio Batu, his film community in Yogyakarta. Canon 5D Mark III was used as the camera. The story is based on a local cultural practice that was popular in 1980s and 90s in Yogyakarta when a woman, seller of ''wedang rondhe'' (local drink) let a man to see her genital by lighting matches in darker place in ''

alun-alun An ''alun-alun'' ( Javanese, correctly hyphenated but occurs occasionally without hyphen; also found as ''aloen-aloen'', ''aloon aloon'', and erroneously ''alon-alon'') is a large, central, open lawn square common to villages, towns and cities ...

'' for money. In the film, the woman is a restaurant employee rather than a drink seller and the money was higher than the practice back then in accordance to a more modern context.

Reception

''Prenjak'' was registered to

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

three days before the closing. The film then won the Leica Cine Discovery Prize. The film is the first Indonesian film to win at the festival in any category. According to ''Femina'', Charles Tesson praised ''Prenjak'' as "a film with a surprisingly deep poetry". Tesson, quoted by ''

Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripple") is a Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists ...

'', added that the film is "dark and ornery, about how earning a living is the same as a game of matches." ''Rappler'' also quoted Marie-Paulline Molaret, one of the jury, said that "Bhanuteja got rid of bad impression of peeking and made it as an entertaining, soft poetry." After winning the international festival, ''Prenjak'' was screened by Kinosaurus a micro-cinema in Jakarta. The film was also screened at Institut Francais Indonesia Jakarta on 2 June 2016. Pangerang writing for ''

Kompas ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of Kompas Gramedia Group. Its head office is located at the Kompas Multimed ...

'' identified ''Prenjak'' as black comedy, showing a sad story of a woman by simple jokes. Ratnaning writing for '' Liputan6.com'' claimed that its simplicity of "the plot, setting, and shooting technique" makes the film as natural and close to viewers.

Awards

''Prenjak'' won Best Short Film category at 2016 Indonesian Film Festival.

References

{{reflist Indonesian short films Films set in Indonesia