Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! is a 2008 Indonesian film directed by Djenar Maesa Ayu. Starring Titi Rajo Bintang, Henidar Amroe, and Ray Sahetapi, it tells the life story of Adjeng, who was sexually abused as a child by her mother’s boyfriend. Although commercially unsuccessful, the film was well received by critics. It won five national-level awards and was screened at several international film festivals.
About Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! in brief
Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! is a 2008 Indonesian film directed by Djenar Maesa Ayu. Starring Titi Rajo Bintang, Henidar Amroe, and Ray Sahetapi, it tells the life story of Adjeng, who was sexually abused as a child by her mother’s boyfriend. The film adapted two of Ayu’s short stories from her debut anthology of the same name. Although commercially unsuccessful, the film was well received by critics. It won five national-level awards and was screened at several international film festivals. Two Indonesian publications, Tempo and The Jakarta Post, selected it as among the best films of 2008. It has been described as ‘anti-Sjuman’ because of the disparity between Ayu and her father, Sjumandjaja, in their directing style. The story was originally meant to be based on the short story “Mere Ka Bilang,. SayaMonyet!, but Djenesa later chose to base the film on “Lintah” and two other stories from the same anthology. The two original stories were written over a period of two years by Ayu after she had difficulty finding new investors after dropping out of filmmaking classes.
She asked a writer-television personality, Indra Herlambang, to help her write the screenplay as she could never write with a plot and needed him to keep her motivated. The original story was published in Kompas in 2004, but was later turned into a short film, which was released in 2005. The short film was a box-office success and won several awards, including Best Film at a Film Festival in Indonesia and Best Director at the Jakarta International Film Festival. It was also screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Best Short Film award for the second time in its history. It is currently being shown in cinemas in the UK and the U.S. and has been shown at several film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival in Canada and the New York Film Festival in the United States in 2009. The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray in October 2009, and is available on Blu-Ray and DVD in the US and the UK as well as in Australia and Canada.
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