JAKARTA - Garin Nugroho's black and white silent film will premiere at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore, on May 10. This film takes place in Bali in the 1930s, telling the story of a man from a poor family who was rejected by his application by the rich parents of a woman he loved.
The man then made a supernatural agreement with the Monkey King and performed a dark ritual to gain wealth. However, in the process the ritual actually creates suffering.
Samsara will feature many elements of traditional Balinese performances such as gamelan orchestras, traditional dances, masks, and wayang combined with digital electronic music as well as contemporary dances and masks.
Film production involves artists who have experience and received awards for their works, including producer Gita Fara and Aldo Swastia, fashion arranger Retno Ratih Damayanti, artistic arranger Vida Sylvia, cinematographer of Batara Goempar, ICS, and choreographer Ida Ayu Wayan Arya Satyani (Bumi Bajra).
This film stars actor Ario Bayu and dancer of Indonesian-Australia descent, Juliet Widyasari Burnett, it is the result of the collaboration between Cinema Films, Garin Workshop, and Lynx Films with Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay Singapore and Silurbarong.co with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia.
"Samsara was inspired by my love for the classic German films of the 1920s, Nesferatu (1922), and Metropolis (1927), which brought me back to exploring local traditions. Making this work for me is like leading and carrying out traditional ceremonies that live in various parts of Indonesia," Garin said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, March 16.
Garin called Samsara a ceremony with various professions, including makeup artist, cook, stageman, dancer, and musician.
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"Every ceremony represents socio-economic conditions and the community environment, so that in the creative process every player must be able to bring in himself a socio-cultural situation in the creation of Samsara," he said.
The Samsara film features well-known Indonesian artists and dancers such as Gus Bang Sada, Siko Setyanto, Dance Maestro I Ketut Arini, Cok Sawitri, and Aryani Willems as well as dancers from the Bumi Bajra Community in Bali.
The Bali Gamelan show for the film was hosted by Wayan Sudirana, music composer and ethnomusicologist who graduated from the University of British Columbia in Canada who has studied ancient Bali music, western classical music, as well as traditional music from Korea, Ghana, and India.
While the digital electronic music was performed by the Gabber Modus Operandi music group, namely Kasimyn and Ican Harem. The musician who collaborated with Bjork on the Fossora (2022) album presents the results of a cross from several music genres.
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