5 Indonesian Movies with International Achievements You Should Watch

It seems like the industry of Indonesian movies is growing so much faster than before.

We know very well that a lot of Indonesian movies have been popular in the world. We can say Habibie dan Ainun, Laskar Pelangi, and many more.

But actually, there are a lot of Indonesian movies with international achievements you should watch.

These lists have a very unique perspective and we know it very well that these Indonesian movies are supposed to be popular and be the most watched Indonesian movies.

1. Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku 

Also known as Memories of My Body, this film is the most recommended Indonesian movie to watch.

If you are bored by so many Indonesian movies that use mainstream plots, you have to watch this!

This movie was aired in the 75th Venesia International Film Festival, on early September 2008.

And, as we can guess, this film had impressed a lot of audiences there.

The superior film director behind this movie is Garin Nugroho.

He is a very smart director and had received several awards because of his amazing works, such as Venice Independent Film Critic 2018, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2018, and many more.

But, this movie also raised a lot of controversy Indonesian society.

Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku shows us about how important to love and receive ourselves dearly from a Lengger dancer’s perspective.

2. Perempuan Tanah Jahanam

The next Indonesian movie with a lot of international achievements is Perempuan Tanah Jahanam or Impetigore.

From its title, it seems like we have known very well that this horror movie is going to be viral and scary.

Because of that reason this movie is recognized as one of the most watched Indonesian movies and one of the best Indonesian horror movies.

The film director, Joko Anwar, has a lot of wild imaginations and had succeeded to express his unspoken feelings by filming this movie.

Telling about traditional belief in a primitive society, Perempuan Tanah Jahanam is capable to bring in our nightmares when we start to sleep.

Talking about achievements, this movie has been entered Sundance Film Festival 2020, a prestigious international film festival.

3. Lady Terminator

All we can say about this film is unfortunate. It is because if you have watched this movie, you will agree that Lady Terminator is a breathtaking movie that will lead us to see this world with different perspectives. 

This film was directed by Tjut Dalil in 1989 and was supposed to be released in our cinemas. But unfortunately, this movie was failed to be aired. 

Lady Terminator tells us about Queen Kidul’s revenge. Maybe because of this reason, this film was misjudged by a lot of people in Indonesia.

But who knows, instead of being sank down in Indonesian cinemas, this movie was internationally popular.

It is understandable that this movie has more cons than pros because this movie has some violence and porn scenes.

However, Lady Terminator won a lot of international awards and had impressed so many audiences.

4. Parts of the Heart

Another Indonesian movies with international achievements you should watch is Part of the Heart.

This movie was also failed to be aired in 2012 because of its story line. This movie tells about a life of a young man named Peter.

In this movie, Peter is depicted as a homosexual who lives in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta.

What makes this movie unique is the director divided Peter’s life into eight segments.

First segment is entitled Stolen Kiss that shows us about his lovely first love.

Then, we will be impressed by his first sexual experience in the second segment, The Game Kiss.

We might be crying when we start to watch the third segment, Solace. In this segment, we will see how his boyfriend was dead.

After that, we can continue to his relationship break-ups (Club Virgin), social pressure (The Last Time), until a lot of bombshell conflicts started to break his life.

This movie won so many international awards, one of them is Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012.

5. 27 Steps of May

This film, 27 Steps of May was first aired in Busan International Film Festival 2018, but its achievement did not stop there. The movie became so popular because it tells about sexual harassment.

The main character is called “May”, a victim of sexual harassment. Poor her, she has been experiencing her traumatic life since she was just 14 years old.

This film aired in so many international film festivals, such as Cape Town Film Festival, Goteborg Film Festival, and so on.

This movie also won countless awards like The 3rd Malaysia Golden Global Awards 2019, Best Film in Golden Hanoman Award, and many more.

From this movie, we know that the actors and the actresses are among those most popular Indonesian actors and most popular Indonesian actresses.

So, that’s all about the Indonesian movies with international achievements.

Now, you can be sure that Indonesian movies have a superior quality to compete globally.