Director-producer-writer Katrina Irawati Graham and producer Ana Tiwary are presenting supernatural horror project “Raesita Grey” at the first JAFF Market, running alongside Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Yogyakarta (Jogja), Indonesia.
The film follows Raesita Grey, an Indonesian batik artist on her family’s West Java rubber plantation, who becomes mysteriously pregnant after losing her Australian husband in a car crash that leaves her vision impaired. Her pregnancy attracts a Kuntilanak – a vengeful maternal spirit from Indonesian folklore.
Graham, who grew up in Jakarta with an Indonesian mother and Australian father, drew inspiration from childhood stories. “My best friend’s uncle would tell us terrifying stories in the dark by firelight. The most unsettling was the story of the Kuntilanak, the ghost of a woman who has died while birthing a child,” says Graham. “When I became pregnant later in life, I found that the Kuntilanak of my childhood was still lodged deep in the soft folds of my brain.”
The Queensland-based filmmaker, who received two Australian Director’s Guild Awards nominations for “Bali 2002,” aims to explore deeper themes through the horror genre. “I wrote ‘Raesita Grey’ as a feminist supernatural horror film to create a space where I might investigate my internal wonderings about the Kuntilanak. I hope to invite audiences to consider what devastation might cause a woman to haunt the sites of her trauma – pregnancy, birth, babies and men,” Graham says.
Producer Ana Tiwary of indiVisual films boarded the project drawn to its cultural elements. “Having been raised in Indonesia, Katrina has the ability to tell culturally rich and compelling stories that bring together Western genre filmmaking with Eastern aesthetics,” says Tiwary, whose India-Australia migrant drama “Home Before Night” was presented recently at Film Bazaar, Goa.
The project highlights both opportunities and challenges in Australia-Indonesia screen collaboration. “Indonesia is the closest neighbour to Australia yet there is very little screen narrative that meaningfully reflects this relationship,” notes Graham. While no formal co-production treaty exists between the nations, Tiwary sees potential: “There are many talented filmmakers of Indonesian heritage living in Australia, and with proper funding support can be champions of stories that create a bridge between Australia and Indonesia.”
The inaugural JAFF Market runs Dec. 3-5, marking a new collaboration between Adelaide Film Festival and JAFF to foster ties between the two countries’ film industries. “Raesita Grey” is at the market’s Future Project platform.
