<\/span><\/h3>\nWhile Jani Be Good celebrates a major milestone with its Tokyo International Film Festival premiere, its journey highlights systemic challenges within the Indonesian film industry. Palari Films, renowned for critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles such as the Locarno Golden Leopard winner Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, Posesif, Aruna and Her Palate, and Netflix originals like Borderless Fog and Dear David, continues to face hurdles regarding international and domestic financing. <\/p>\n
For Jani Be Good, applications for international development funding were unsuccessful. Domestically, while festival selections elevate studio prestige and portfolio diversity, they frequently saddle independent or arthouse-leaning projects with the perilous label of being "too artistic" or "not accessible enough" for local commercial investors. <\/p>\n
Distribution remains a structural bottleneck in the archipelago. Indonesia lacks a unified distribution network that spans across its thousands of islands. Consequently, films face immense commercial pressure during a narrow Thursday-to-Sunday opening weekend, after which exhibitors frequently pull underperforming titles from screens. <\/p>\n
In response to these distribution vulnerabilities, Palari Films has launched the Kelas Komunitas Palari<\/em> (Palari Community Class) initiative. This workshop series trains regional film communities across Indonesia to independently organize local screenings and paid watch parties. Jani Be Good has been selected as the inaugural test case for this grassroots distribution model, offering an innovative blueprint to bypass traditional theatrical choke points.<\/p>\n<\/span>A Legacy of Arthouse Formative Years<\/span><\/h3>\nDarmawan\u2019s transition to feature filmmaking is built upon a foundation of critically praised short films and documentaries. Her previous short project, Sugiharti Halim<\/em>, competed at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and screened at prominent events in Rotterdam and Busan. Another notable short, Silenced<\/em>, also secured a screening slot in Rotterdam. <\/p>\nDarmawan describes her early creative output as small-scale, homebound, and DIY\u2014a formative training ground that taught her the power of quiet observation and allowing physical spaces to speak volumes. Alongside her filmmaking career, Darmawan co-founded Kineruku, an independent library and bookstore in Bandung that serves as a cultural hub.<\/p>\n
With Jani Be Good slated for a commercial release in Indonesian cinemas on December 10, Darmawan is already looking toward the future. Although she intends to continue directing, she prefers an organic approach to project selection, allowing future films to emerge naturally from her life experiences, family observations, and interactions at her bookstore. <\/p>\n
"As for themes, I\u2019m open to anything, as long as it has sad and sweet relationships between people," Darmawan concludes. "That\u2019s where things get complicated and interesting." <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Palari Films maintains a bustling production slate bridging veteran auteurs and emerging voices. Upcoming projects include Edwin\u2019s coming-of-age feature Menari dengan Bayangan<\/em> (Dancing With My Shadows) in collaboration with singer-songwriter Baskara Putra (Hindia); Aditya Ahmad\u2019s debut feature Goldfish<\/em>, which triumphed at the Busan Asian Project Market; and Khozy Rizal\u2019s debut feature, I Wanna Dance With Myself<\/em>. <\/p>\nAs Jani Be Good prepares for its domestic rollout and international festival run, it stands as a testament to the resilience of Indonesian independent cinema, proving that deeply personal stories of domestic quietude can resonate on a global stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After more than a decade away from the director\u2019s chair to focus on raising a family, acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Ariani Darmawan has made a triumphant return to narrative cinema. Her debut feature film, Jani Be Good, explores the intricate, often turbulent dynamics of an all-female, Chinese-Catholic household across three generations. The film has earned international …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[6601,6604,6602,647,2227,191,833,6225,4023,6603,6600,6605,1071,192,193,234,1292],"class_list":["post-8804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ariani","tag-bound","tag-darmawan","tag-decade","tag-drama","tag-entertainment","tag-family","tag-filmmaker","tag-good","tag-hiatus","tag-indonesian","tag-jani","tag-long","tag-movies","tag-music","tag-returns","tag-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propernews.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}