Playing Sleep Friends Film, Gunawan Denies The Bad Impact Of Suspension

Sleep Friends Player (Photo: ist)

JAKARTA - The film Teman Tidur is ready to air in conjunction with National Film Day, March 30, 2023. The film, which is written by Antariksa's staff and Gea Rexy, raises the theme of bullying and mental health issues, is currently an important issue that has not been widely worked on in the Indonesian film industry.

To fill the void, Robagu Pictures released a thriller drama genre film titled Teman Tidur which made bullying or bullying the main theme.

What's more, recently the community was shocked by the brutal incident of mistreatment of a teenager until he fell into a coma by a child of a DGT official from the Ministry of Finance. This shows how bullying can be a dangerous crime if left unchecked.

The film Teman Tidur, directed by Ray Nayoan, takes place as a teenager and in a high school situation. School is one place where bullying or bullying often occurs. It all started with Kelly, one of the students of SMA Tunas Bangsa, who committed suicide because he was a victim of bullying from the school gang and his sensual photos spread throughout the school.

The story continues with the presence of spirit figure Kelly who continues to haunt the perpetrators of bullying. Mutiara Sofya, who plays Kelly, shared her impression while filming and exploring her role as one of the main actors in this film.

"My role as Kelly is very related to the current condition because bullying occurs in schools and everywhere. Incidentally, I am a victim of bullying from kindergarten to junior high school. So knowing and feeling really sad, disappointed and afraid as a victim," said Mutiara during a media gathering released by Friends. Sleep in the Prapanca area, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Friday, February 24.

Gunawan, a senior actor who plays Kelly's father, the victim of bullying in the film Teman Tidur. He felt very soulful and had a total role in this film.

"I feel disappointed as a parent whose child is bullied. Because my child is a victim of bullying during elementary school. It can be seen that the difference from being cheerful to being quiet at first, like crying and coward. Parents must be sensitive to the condition and change of their child's attitude," he said.

Not only Mutiara Sofya and Gunawan who once intersected with the problem of bullying, Kalina Ocktaranny who also played in this film admitted that she had been a victim at school.

"It happened in high school. After being silent for a long time, I finally spoke up and fought back. If we don't behave, bully will continue to last. I agree with Gunawan, parents must be sensitive and have to chat frequently and be friends with children's discussions," Kalina said.

Dino Izaak, Executive Producer of Teman Tidik, said that schools become a fertile ground for bullying that is often ignored and films become a medium for delivering messages that is very good and effective in dealing with the bad effects of bullying.

"So this film not only describes the good times of teenagers at school which are full of romance or pleasure, but also talks about bullying, mental health, the bad effects of social media and how we should respond to it," said Dino.

Sleep Friends Producer Setyoro Swantomo added that his production house this time wants to show quality works that are very relevant and close to everyday life. The hope is that the public is enthusiastic about getting to know more about mental health issues and bullying which is not a trivial matter, especially when this theme is wrapped in an interesting and quite liked thriller film genre.

Ray Nayoan as the director said that his film can provide important experiences and lessons to spectators, both teenagers and parents who have children at school.

"This sleeping friend film presents a new audio visual experience through diving towards friendship characters at school and also how gadgets, social media can be dangerous if they are not used wisely," said Ray.

Apart from Mutiara Sofya, Givina Lukita Dewi and Baskara Mahendra, this film also stars a row of well-known actors and actresses such as Meriam Bellina, Gunawan, Rafael Tan, Khan TEux, Deanda Putri, AbunSungkar, and several other names. The soundtrack for this film was sung by Monita Tahalea and created by Sri Hanuraga as well as a music engineer for the film Teman Sleep with Thoersi Argeswara.