Not Only Women's Themes, Kamila Andini Raises LGBT Problems In Indonesia Through Yuni's Film

JAKARTA - Yuni's film is ready to hit theaters on June 9. Director Kamila Andini presents the theme of early marriage for girls, which often occurs in Indonesia. Starring Awawinda Kirana, this film gives a strong message for women to dare to dream.

Yuni's film tells the story of Yuni (Arawinda Kirana) who is a high school student who is known to be smart at school. Yuni has a dream to continue her education up to university level. However, Yuni's path to reach her dream is not easy.

As a girl who still holds eastern customs, she is asked to get married immediately after graduating from school. Apart from Arawinda Kirana, this film also stars a number of other actors such as Kevin Ardilova, Dimas Aditya, Marissa Anita, Asmara Abigail and many more.

"The idea for Yuni's film was written in 2017. This came from a simple conversation I had with a mother whose child married at a young age. For some reason it was reflective that I felt I had to make this film," said Andini at Epicentrum, Monday, December 6.

Andini wants to photograph natural events that occur in society without exaggerating. "Women are often squeezed in their position in patriarchal social conditions. I don't think this is happening in Indonesia. Many women in other parts of the world experience the same thing," he explained.

Not only the theme of gender equality, Andini also inserts how cornered people with different sexual preferences in Indonesia are. Through several characters, Andini also raised the LGBT theme.

"At that reflective point, I feel that it's not only women who want to be accepted in a patriarchal society. There are also those who have different preferences and have to do things they don't want to be accepted by society. To what extent do we have space for ourselves, I want to show this in the film? Yuni," said Andini.

Yuni's film was shot in Serang. Almost 100% of the players use the Jaseng language, Javanese Serang, for the dialogue. "There was a translation team sitting next to me. If it's not approved, it's not ok. Slips of the tongue often happen, but I'm grateful because the players worked very hard to learn Jaseng," he recalled.

Arawinda Kirana admits that she has to seriously try to learn Jaseng for the film Yuni. "Learning Jaseng was facilitated by the film team, who taught all the cast to speak the language. In addition, the scenario was translated into Jaseng. We also made a small dictionary to translate the words so you know you understand what we are saying," he said.