Kado Hari Jadi - Press Kit

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Kado Hari Jadi (The Anniversary Gift)

Press Kit

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Synopsis A young man wakes up chained to metal chair in a room painted a sickening shade of pink and illuminated by a single blinding block of neon lights placed at his right. A razorblade hangs on a string before him, and sharp pink pencils are aimed at his left eye and stomach. He does not know where he is or why he is there. Periodically, a beautiful young woman dressed in floral summer dress enters the room and performs cruel and calculated acts of seemingly senseless torture. Who is she? Why is she doing this? What has he done to deserve this? And most importantly, will he survive?

Press Release HouseofWaves Productions Debuts First Full Length Feature Film

JAKARTA, June 20, 2008: HouseofWaves Productions, an up and coming innovative independent film collective, will be screening its first feature length movie titled The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) for its World Premiere at Kinoki Coffee Shop and Screening House in Yogyakarta on July 4, with a series of other showings also scheduled for Bandung and Jakarta throughout July. The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi), a raw, barebones, suspense-packed, experimental thriller/horror flick geared to keeping audiences on the edge of their seats, is also the feature film directorial debut of short filmmaker Paul F. Agusta, whose mini-movie presentations, such as Fever and Lies that Bind, have been shown at art houses and cultural centers in Indonesia, while

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

his RTM 03.26 was also selected for showing at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands in 2006. The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) is also scheduled to screen at Q Film Festival in Jakarta from August 7-16 this year, and is expected to be shown at a number of international film festivals over the next few months. The director of The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi), Paul Agusta, who is well known for his provocative, if not radical views on filmmaking, has taken this movie as an opportunity to continue his experimental exploration of how to bend, twist and rip apart the traditional paradigms of filmmaking entrenched in Indonesian cinematic productions in an attempt to prove that “it is not money that makes good movies, but good stories”. Paul says that he strongly believes that legendary filmmaker and poet Jean Cocteau was right when he said: "Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper." With The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi), Paul was intent on breaking all the set-in-stone movie making rules he could to produce a credible cinematic work as creatively and as skillfully as he could within as short a span of time possible (10 days of shooting) with a smaller budget than most local filmmakers spend on catering alone. “I chose to challenge myself and the talented young members of HouseofWaves Productions film collective with the filming of a brilliant horror-thriller scenario written by gifted short-story writer/novelist Dalih Sembiring from an idea I came up with in a conversation a couple of years or so ago. We all endeavored to do this so that we could prove to ourselves that we could actually make a feature film and not just daydream about it,” Paul explained. According to Paul, The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) is a story of love, loss, pain, sacrifice and revenge; a mystery that unfolds into tragedy.

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) stars seasoned actor Rifnu Wikana (9 Naga, Maaf Saya Menghamili Istri Anda) in the leading male role of Yoga, a university student, who finds himself caught up in a kind of horrible sadistic game he cannot guess the reason for; and multi-gifted singer-songwriter Kartika Jahja in her film debut in the leading female role of Tika, a young woman with a score to settle. Supporting actors (all making their first appearance in a feature length film) are Jeffrey Sirie, as a young husband whose life is shattered by unexpected events; Hukla Turangan, who plays Irma, a carefree young woman who finds herself thrown into a desperate quest to save a life; Yoggie Richard, as Luki, a college student who loses his first chance at love; Leha Patricia, as a high school girl whose first love turns into a nightmare; and Ika Vantiani, a woman whose heart is so hurt she cannot forgive. “We believe and hope that the story itself will have meaning to audiences because it deals with the most basic and darkest of human emotions, and how people struggle to come to grips with them and often become consumed by them. And even though The Anniversary Gift might seem too experimental to many contemporary Indonesian horror movie lovers, we felt like we had to follow Paul’s creative intuition with this film,” said Yunita Candra, the producer of The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi). “I also tend to believe that the human psyche can be much more terrifying than any ghosts or demons,” Paul said. “To me, the horror movie is one of the most difficult film genres to get right. I wanted to see if I could really pull it off. I guess we’ll see from audience reaction; whether The Anniversary Gift rivets people to their seats in terror, or bores them into a coma like a lot of the formula horror flicks that have been coming out recently,” Paul said. Makeup and Special Effects for The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) were skillfully and creatively handled by Indonesia’s legendary “horror flick master” Didin Syamsudin.

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

For more information about The Anniversary Gift (Kado Hari Jadi) please visit http://www.vengeanceispink.com

Still Photos: Taken by Keke Tumbuan

Rifnu Wikana as Yoga

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Kartika Jahja as Tika

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Director and Writer Biography

Paul Agusta (Director/Executive Producer/Composer/Story) Paul Agusta was born in Jakarta in1980 and studied film in America before returning to Indonesia in 2003. This young moviemaker believes that video levels the playing field in filmmaking of any kind due to its affordability and availability, and that the only true resource a video-maker needs is a solid, well thought out idea; the rest is simply implementation. There is no excuse for video-makers not to fulfill their creative urge, you can always beg, borrow, or steal a camera. His short videos (mostly shot on borrowed or discarded cameras) have been included in various local and international film events and screenings. Prior to 2007, Paul had been a nationally known film critic, festival manager, and film curator. He has since resigned from those previous careers to focus on his work as a film and video-maker. Kado Hari Jadi (The Anniversary Gift) is his first feature film.

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Dalih Sembiring (Story/Screenplay) Born in Binjai, North Sumatera on May 4th, 1983. A graduate of English Literature, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, he is currently working in Jakarta as a freelance writer, translator, and editor. He has been writing fiction since senior high school. His short stories have been published in newspapers, magazines, journals, as well as in anthologies with other writers. He co-wrote a teen novel called Cha untuk Chayang with Abmi Handayani (2007, Gramedia Pustaka Utama), now in its second printing. He has also been writing features for The Jakarta Post since September 2007 under the pseudonym Daniel Rose. Kado Hari Jadi (The Anniversary Gift) is his

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

second attempt at writing a film script, the first one being an unfinished script called Bila Baik Budi. Dalih Sembiring has recently completed his first solo novel, titled Nel, which is awaiting publication.

Director’s Statement With The Anniversary Gift, Dalih Sembiring and I wanted to examine the nature of love, loss, the empty promise of vengeance, and the pain that those things bring along with them. We wanted to dissect hatred and explore its core, as well as how it can turn the hater into something as despicable, if not worst, than the cause of their hatred itself. As a director, I wanted to tell this tale of pain in the most visceral way possible; I wanted with every fiber in my being to open a way for the audience to feel every ounce of pain (physical and emotional), confusion, panic, distress, and sadness experienced by the characters in the film. We accomplished this by taking the rawest and most real visual approach we could come up with, which included (among other things) the use of grainy VHS-C in the torture sections, handheld “home video”-style filming for the flashbacks (with no additional lighting; only available light was used), and a tension-building loose camera technique for the present-day scenes outside of the torture room. It is my sincere hope that this film will provide the audience with an emotional experience that they won’t soon forget.

Executive Producer’s Statement This dark little film needed to be made for several reasons. Granted, it might not have been missed at all -- what with the massive outpouring of all sorts of visual stories inundating viewers worldwide -- in the context of the global (or even local) movie industry, the big business of DVD rental shops, or the lower key commercial centers of art cafes and screening rooms.

It needed to be made because it is the culmination of a creative compulsion that could not be denied. It needed to be made because it is a “first feature film” and that means there are others

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

(just ideas now) waiting in line for gained experience and enriched vision. It needed to be made because it is a cathartic vehicle for a quarter century plus of creative and other life experiences deemed capable of imploding a young director’s mind. It needed to be made so this previously short-film director could prove to himself that he had the capacity to make a feature-length movie. (And typically Paul Agusta set the bar as high as he could by selecting – in his own words -- “one of the most difficult to pull off genres; the horror/thriller film”; then complicating the process by setting an incredulously low budget {“money doesn’t make good movies, good stories do”} and breaking all the movie making rules {“I have to follow my creative intuition”}he could think of as creatively and as skillfully as he could in as short a span of time as possible.)

“Kado Hari Jadi” (The Anniversary Gift) needed to be made because it is part of a collective dream of a group of young filmmakers, movie lovers, and other creative souls who were trudging along singly in the ranks of the many hopefuls that find their lives tangled inextricably in the celluloid or video cables of the murky, muddy channels of mainstream movie making, before gravitating together and deciding to cut and run from the pack with a bag full of crazy ideas and mad dreams.

It needed to be made because “Kado Hari Jadi” started as a simple but powerful idea about how emotion can be at once a powerfully positive force or the most destructive of elements in the life of a human being. It then became a screenplay about love and hate; choices and constraints; obsessions and denial; compassion and vengeance. It was a screenplay that, although the story was dark and the horror genre isn’t my favorite mode of storytelling, thoroughly piqued my interest and compelled me to want to see how it would come out in the more complex, layered format that is the telling of a story on a screen.

It had to be made because, personally, I have traveled a long arduous path of setting aside my personal aspirations for more practical considerations, and I simply couldn’t sit by and watch the

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

vision and potential of others with more talent and courage lie dormant for lack of encouragement and cold, hard cash. So, even though filmmaking is not my field of material endeavor (I am an editor and translator by profession), nor my one true passion (visual art), I do love watching films – particularly the provocative kind, and I saw and acted on the potential I saw in this story and in the young people telling it.

I believe in this film and what it says about contemporary global society and its penchant for instant gratification and taking the easiest way out (in terms of the story itself and of the decidedly difficult methods and process used to make the movie). And, most of all, I believe in the houseofwaves film collective and their dream of opening up new paths for young artists in a highly complex and difficult to break into field of endeavor. To me, in my current function as an “executive producer”, it doesn’t matter whether I make any money from this investment or whether the film is “well accepted” in a commercial sense because I know that it is a story that needed telling and that I am helping people with significant talent to make the most of what they have creatively. -MARGARET ROSE GLADE AGUSTA EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

CREW Executive Producers Margaret Rose Glade Agusta Paul Agusta Linda Hollands-Sjahlim Producer

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Yunita Candra Line Producer Kyo Hayato Agusta Unit Production Manager Kyo Hayato Agusta Director Paul Agusta Assistant Director Astrid Budi Screenwriter Dalih Sembiring Story by Paul Agusta Dalih Sembiring Director of Photography Wahyu Wiryawan Camera Operator/ Assistant Camera Riri Munaf Stunt Cameraman James Graciano Editors

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Lucky Kuswandi James Graciano Sound Editor Edo Gimbal Soundman Edo_Gimbal Boomer/Assistant Soundman James Graciano Gaffer/Electrician Edo_Gimbal Propmaster Vivi Fransisca Art/Production Design Team Edo_Gimbal Kyo Hayato Agusta Astrid Budi Kartika Jahja Set Designer Edo_Gimbal Custom Prop Maker

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Edo_Gimbal Continuity Supervisor Astrid Budi Make-up and Special Effects Didin Syamsudin Make-up Assistants Rika Yeni Wardrobe Master Jeffrey Sirie Wardrobe Assistant Ria TC Music by elias rose and the furious pink Tika Set Builders Pak Idam Edo_Gimbal Kyo Hayato Agusta Wahyu Wiryawan Still Photographers

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Keke Tumbuan Astrid Budi Catering Ibu Puji Diana Saragih Ibu Etty Budhityaswati Transportation Tarmudji Maja Utama (Auto2000) Behind The Scenes Video Production Team Dalih Sembiring Edo_Gimbal James Graciano Post Production and Promotional Funding Provided by: Margaret Rose Glade Agusta Edo_Gimbal James Graciano

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

CAST

Yoga

Tika

Adam

Rifnu Wikana

Kartika Jahja

Jeffrey Sirie

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Irma

Hukla Turangan

Elly

Leha Patricia

Luky

Yoggie Richard

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

Perempuan 1

Zhen Mung Ping

Perempuan 2

Ika Vantiani

Perempuan 3

Ria TC

Perempuan 4

Ladya Cheryl

Lelaki Gimbal

Edo_Gimbal

Cewek Gosip

Keke Tumbuan

Cowok Ngondek

Dalih Sembiring

Dokter

Leon Agusta

Kyo

Kyo Hayato Agusta

Anak Kost

Andre Kris Budianto

Pemain Scrabble 1

Paul Agusta

Pemain Scrabble 2

James Graciano

Anak SMA 1

Astrid Budi

Anak SMA 2

Lestari Munaf

Media Coverage English Language Media: 1. “Rush Hour” Talk Show interview with Paul Agusta and Dalih Sembiring, KisFM 95.1FM Radio Jakarta, Tuesday, June/03/2008 2. “The Jakarta Post” Newspaper, Sunday, June/29/2008

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

'Kado Hari Jadi' crosses the voyeuristic boundary The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 06/29/2008 | Entertainment Director Paul F. Agusta doesn't need to be told that horror films are the easiest to do but the most difficult to get right. In fact, he was the person who first said it. "I know that the film will not pass censorship," 28-year old Paul said of his latest offering, last Saturday at his home in South Jakarta. He paused, closed his eyes and continued. "But I am willing to stand by every creative decision I've made." Paul was born in Jakarta and studied film in America before returning to Indonesia in 2003. After creating 22 short films and video clips -- most of them experimental -- Paul decided it was time he gathered his team and made their first film. "Every filmmaker eventually wants to step forward and do a full-length film," he said. He believes the cinema is a voyeuristic and visceral experience. "I wanted to cross the voyeuristic boundary between the audience and the film." Kado Hari Jadi (The Anniversary Gift) *narrates' the torture of a man -- moving backwards as it slowly reveals the answers to an irking question over the course of a single day. "I went completely all the way to make the film not only scary, but also scarry," he said. Sequences of scenes about what happened prior to the torture are shown in fragments, as the film brings the audience closer to learning how the lives of three lovers intertwined.

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

The movie uses the color pink as a dominant feature in the decorations used for the film to create a false sense of comfort, Paul said. "I try to dissect it and completely turn it inside out." Shot with a 20-year old camera, Kado Hari Jadi aims to present reality as close as possible, then butcher it and leave it bleeding -- as the audiences is rarely given room to breathe. "I'm actually putting the audience at a safe distance. But I go out of my way to make sure that the film leaves them feeling uncomfortable, angry or depressed," Paul, who decided on the story idea with the script writer, Dalih Sembiring, said. "The script was brilliant, dark and nihilistic, so I try to make the film as dark and as nihilistic." Meanwhile, the actors and actresses involved gave performances that exceeded everyone's expectation. Kado Hari Jadi's cast includes young and new actors and actresses, including Jeffrey Sirie, Hukla Turangan, Leha Patricia, Yoggie Richard and Kartika Jahja, a singer known for her articulate and expressive songs. In order to tighten the budget for the film, the team chose to sacrifice certain things, limiting the budget to what was necessary. Edo Gimbal, a crew member, managed to make a metal chair, which serves as the dominant prop in the film. As a result, the HouseofWaves production team was able to cut down the budget to less than Rp 50 million (US$ 5,705).

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

The production house uses a fair split system, which gives the team some space to fund their next project. "The system we used was accidentally a sharia system, and we see it as the most fair and efficient way of making a film, where everybody gains ownership of the film," Paul said. "We didn't spend too much on lights, locations, catering, and we tried to hire only the necessary crew members for the film; and we were lucky because the story itself is minimalist," he said. The entire shoot was done in 10 days, which included a day off for the crew. In the end, the team leaves it to the audience to make the most of the film, which will not be screened in theaters. It will be released in DVD format in Indonesia in July 2008 by an independent DVD distribution label, the Marshall Plan. "I think the best horror films are sharp, painful and visceral, not the ones that jump out and scare you," Paul said. "All I can say to my target audience is that this is it, and your response finishes the film." (lva)

Indonesian Language Media: 1. Rumahfilm.org review by Windu W. Jusuf. July/29/2008 2. Pikiran Rakyat Newspaper (West Java) interview with Paul Agusta on July/17/2008 3. Sinar Harapan Newspaper (Jakarta) review. July/2008

Screenings to date

Jakarta: Press Screening: 30 June 2008, Vixen Space, Jl. Benda no.89, Kemang, Jakarta Public Screenings:

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

1.

19 July 2008, Galeri Cemara 6, Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto No: 9 - 11 Menteng, Jakarta 10350

2.

20 July 2008, Moe Music & Lounge, Jl. Mandar Utama, komp. Ruko multiguna Blok 8 A-B, Sector 3A, Bintaro Jaya

3.

9 August 2008, KineForum Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jl. Cikini Raya no.73 (as part of Q! Film Festival 2008)

Yogyakarta: Public Screenings: 1.

4 July 2008, Kinoki, Jl. Abu Bakar Ali No. 2. Yogyakarta (WORLD PREMIERE)

2.

7 July 2008, American Corner Library, English Literature Department, Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta

3.

19 August 2008, Kinoki, Jl. Abu Bakar Ali No. 2. Yogyakarta

Bandung: Public Screenings: 1.

11 July 2008, Rumah Buku, Jl. Hegarmanah No.52, Bandung

2.

12 July 2008, Soemardja Gallery, Fine Arts Department, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung

3. Semarang: Public Screening: 1.

14 August 2008, IMPORTAL VideoRoom, Gedung Widya Mitra, Jl. Singosari 2 No. 12 Semarang

houseofwaves productions Apartemen Permata Senayan No. 308, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 20 – 21 A, Jakarta Selatan 10270 T: +6221 5364018, +62857 10313956 – F: +6221 5364018 – E: [email protected]

For information concerning distribution or screenings please contact:

HouseofWaves Productions Apartemen Permata Senayan Unit 308 Jl. Palmerah Selatan Kav. 20-21A Jakarta Selatan Jakarta 10270 INDONESIA

Email: [email protected] Fax: (62)-(21)-536-4018 Telephone: (+62)-(857)-1031-3956