•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

With a story set in the present, reflecting on incidents from the past and imbued with messages about nationalism, “Ruma Maida” (“Maida’s House”) is the latest offering by director Teddy Soeriaatmadja.

The film, set to premiere next month during the 81st anniversary of the Indonesian Youth Pledge, centers around a young woman. Maida, played by Atiqah Hasiholan, finds herself fighting to save an old, abandoned house where she has been teaching street children for free. A businessman has bought the property to develop it into a commercial site.

In the course of the David and Goliath conflict, Maida discovers the building’s history, which dates back to the era of the Indonesian independence movement. Entwined with the house’s history is a love story between a Dutch-Indonesian composer and an Indonesian woman.

“Working with [scriptwriter] Ayu Utami during the development was great,” said Teddy, who also directed “Ruang” (“The Letter”), “Banyu Biru” (“Waking Banyu”) and “Badai Pasti Berlalu” (“Storm Shall Pass”). “She is, above all, a novelist, so she could devise a more playful structure [than most scriptwriters].”

Teddy added that the film took three months for pre-production, one month to shoot and three months to edit.

“The modern scenes were harder to shoot, especially the ones revolving around the 1998 riots in Jakarta,” he said.

Ayu, who wrote the best-selling novels “Saman,” “Larung” and “Bilangan Fu” (“The Fu Numeral”), said that she had liked Lamp Pictures’ proposal in mid-2008.

“They wanted me to write about nationalism. So I broke down this grand theme into three subjects: education, diversity and history,” Ayu said, adding that the script took six months to complete. “The inspiration for Maida is drawn from Butet Manurung and her jungle school.

“I also included the famous debate between Sukarno and Hatta [who are considered to be Indonesia’s founding fathers], regarding whether Indonesians should be educated or independent first.”

The issue of diversity, according to Ayu, could be seen not only from the characters’ various ethnic and religious backgrounds, but also from their different socio-economic circumstances.

“The historical backgrounds are important because Indonesians either know nothing about their own country’s history — they tend to forget it — or they prefer to accept only one version of it,” said Ayu, who also wrote one of the songs for the film’s soundtrack.

“The main messages in this film are that Indonesia needs a better and more accessible education system and that we need to learn from history.”

Ruma Maida
Directed by Teddy Soeriaatmadja
Starring Atiqah Hasiholan,
Yama Carlos and Nino Fernandez
Indonesian, 90 minutes
Premieres Oct. 28 at the anniversary of the Indonesian Youth Pledge
For more information, log on to www.rumamaida.com