According To The variety Kanya Iwana, an Indonesian multidisciplinary artist making her feature directorial debut, has “Ibu” selected for the JAFF Future Project, about three generations of women wrestling with inherited identity in 2011 Yogyakarta.
The Indonesia-U.S. co-production, directed by Iwana and produced by Zack Rice through production company Feed You Films, is among 10 titles selected for the JAFF Future Project at this year’s JAFF Market in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Her eldest daughter Tash fled to Los Angeles years ago, juggling single motherhood with an uncertain creative career. When Maya’s husband Arief dies, Tash returns home to face not only her domineering mother but her commanding grandmother Dewi and half-sister Inez, a 16-year-old navigating the same emotional minefield Tash fled. Everything ruptures during Arief’s Seventh-Day Prayer Ceremony when Maya publicly unravels, confessing fears she has never voiced. Her eldest daughter Tash fled to Los Angeles years ago, juggling single motherhood with an uncertain creative career. When Maya’s husband Arief dies, Tash returns home to face not only her domineering mother but her commanding grandmother Dewi and half-sister Inez, a 16-year-old navigating the same emotional minefield Tash fled. Everything ruptures during Arief’s Seventh-Day Prayer Ceremony when Maya publicly unravels, confessing fears she has never voiced. The director is inspired not just as a mother, but also as a daughter. “At 16, I moved away from home and has been away ever since,” she says. “This story mirrors so much of my feelings towards that part of my life and my experiences of homecoming: from grief to pride. Writing such strong and complex female characters as the core of ‘Ibu’ has become somewhat of a beautiful, nostalgic, and healing process.”
“‘Ibu’ illustrates the nuances of how loss, traditions, and stigma can lead to generational trauma,” Iwana says. “It explores the consequences violent secrets can have as they are kept from each other in a family unit. ‘Ibu’ zeroes in on our protagonist, Tash, as she works towards escaping that trauma — although it catches up to her.”
