The inaugural JAFF Market – the biggest film market in Indonesia – has partnered with the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) to bring two standout Australian film projects to the Jakarta Future Project (JFP) in Yogyakarta, from 3-5 December, 2024.

The JFP is an international development platform, and it marks the latest stage of the AFF and Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival Exchange, which aims to build connections across the Asia-Pacific region. The exchange has been supported by the Australian Government.

AFF CEO & Creative Director Mat Kesting expressed his enthusiasm for the growing partnerships: ‘The AFF and Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival Exchange has been an incredibly satisfying experience, and I am confident that we have built relationships between our two country’s filmmaking communities that will see long-term, fruitful collaborations.

‘This latest initiative is particularly exciting, helping to advance projects on their path to production. I’d like to thank the Federal Government and the Office for the Arts for their support of the initiative,’ Kesting said.

The two Australian films selected for the Jakarta Future Project are Sampai Mati and Raesita Grey, both of which will receive JFP backing.

Sampai Mati, directed by Ben Golotta and written by Juli Sastrawan, explores resilience and healing following the 2002 Bali bombings, while Raesita Grey, written and directed by Katrina Irawati Graham, is a horror drama centered on a haunted woman and an Indonesian ghost.

The project market is headed by Meiske Taurisa, an award- winning producer, hailed the selection as ‘a diverse range of exciting film projects in early stages of development, presenting a variety of genres that should cater to the appetites of various investors, producers and distributors, looking for stimulating film projects for their pipeline.’

The other partners of JFP are White Light Post (Thailand), Kongchak Studio (Cambodia), BSM Equipment (Indonesia) and more to be announced closer to the market dates.

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The Australian films heading to Jakarta:

Sampai Mati (working title)

Director: Ben Golotta
Writer: Juli Sastrawan
Company: Repeater Productions (Australia)
Genre: Documentary

Sampai Mati follows the intertwined journeys of Australian survivors mourning lost loved ones and Balinese locals committed to community healing, revealing how love and resilience transform trauma into hope and renewal in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings.

Sampai Mati director Ben Golotta is a prominent figure in Adelaide’s film industry, known for his work as a Producer/Director and as co-founder of Repeater Productions alongside Morgan Wright. Golotta previously worked on award-winning short films, TVCs, and documentaries. His first feature documentary  as a producer, Iron Winter, is set to release in 2025.

Raesita Grey

Director/ Writer: Katrina Irawati Graham
Producer: Ana Tiwary
Genre: Horror Drama

Raesita Grey is a feminist horror story, exploring the relationship between two women, one who is dead and secretly longs for life, and one who is alive and secretly longs for death. Haunted by guilt over her husband’s death, pregnant Raesita Grey develops a deadly connection with a Kuntilanak, the most famous of Indonesian ghosts.

Raesita Grey director Katrina Irawati Grahamis an award-winning director and writer known for her work in various genres, including feminist horror. She received two Australian Director’s Guild Awards nominations for Bali 2002, a STAN Original drama series about the 2002 Bali bombings. She wrote and directed a segment of SBS’s all-female horror anthology Dark Whispers. She has created two internationally awarded online crime series and is currently developing Mother Tongue, an anti-racist drama, and Siti R. a supernatural tale.

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For more information on the Jakarta Future Project and the abovementioned Australian films, head to the JAFF Market website, or the website for the Adelaide Film Festival.