Good News, Three Faces In The Land Of Sharia Film From Aceh Entered Cannes World Film Festival Nomination

JAKARTA - The documentary titled Three Faces in The Land of Sharia was nominated for the best human rights film category at the Cannes World Film Festival edition January 2023. This film is the work of journalist from Aceh Davi Abdullah.

Director of Film, Music and Media of the Ministry of Education and Culture Ahmad Mahendra appreciated this achievement. "This achievement is certainly proud," quoted from ANTARA, Friday, February 24.

Mahendra said this was a proud achievement because it would not only be broadcast at the Cannes World Film Festival but also included in the competition and competed with the film Pechcaan (identity) from Pakistan to compete for the best human rights film.

Moreover, this film also received a prestigious award at the national level, namely the winners of the 2021 FFI Citra Cup as Best Short Documentary Film and have competed with hundreds of films from various parts of the world.

The film, directed by Davi Abdullah and produced by Masridho Rambe, itself, tells the story of Aceh's condition in the application of Islamic law with a production period of about five years.

According to Mahendra, Indonesian cinema is currently being victorious at various world festivals, so Kemendikbudristek continues to support it through various programs, including travel grants, workshops, labs and production facilities in the form of matching funds.

In addition, workshops and labs facilitated by the Ministry of Education and Culture are also collaborating with various world film educational institutions and courses such as the Rotterdam Lab and the Busan Platform.

Then the incubation of the script for the feature film also collaborated with the tenure of the film professor from the University of Southern California while the workshop for developing short film scripts collaborated with the New York Film Academy.

Masridho Rambe, who is the producer of the documentary Three Faces in The Land of Sharia, hopes that the achievement of being nominated for the Cannes World Film Festival will motivate other filmmakers to continue working.

"Hopefully this can motivate other filmmakers to continue working and prove that Acehnese children can also compete with other world films," he said.

Masridho explained that the film had gone through several stages of selection ranging from semi-finalist, finalist determination to nomination announcement on February 23, 2023.

For the festival jury consisting of seven members from the film industry, music industry and arts and culture

"Later, monthly winners will automatically be included in the annual competition to get the opportunity to receive the luciole dOr trophy and have the opportunity to play their films in Cannes, France, the world's cinema capital," said Masridho.