Djaoeh Dimata

Djaoeh Dimata

Djaoeh Dimata is a 1948 film from what is now Indonesia. Starring Ratna Asmara and Ali Joego, it follows a woman who moves to Jakarta to find work after her husband is blinded in an accident. It is the only surviving film made by the South Pacific Film Corporation.

About Djaoeh Dimata in brief

Summary Djaoeh DimataDjaoeh Dimata is a 1948 film from what is now Indonesia. Starring Ratna Asmara and Ali Joego, it follows a woman who moves to Jakarta to find work after her husband is blinded in an accident. The film was the first domestically produced feature film to be released in five years. It received favourable reviews, although financially it was outperformed by Roestam Sutan Palindih’s Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitarum. The cast remained active in the Indonesian film industry, some for another 30 years, and SPFC produced six more works before closing in 1949. A copy of the film is stored at Sinematek Indonesia and is on display at the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta, where it is displayed alongside other Indonesian film memorabilia from the 1950s and 1960s.

It is the only surviving film made by the South Pacific Film Corporation, which was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War in the Dutch East Indies. The last studio, the ethnic Chinese-owned Multi Film, was confiscated by the Japanese to establish the film production company Nippon Eigasha in Jakarta. During the ensuing revolution, allied Dutch and British forces occupied Jakarta in November 1945. The Dutch took over the studio, and production of newsreels began in 1947 under the banner Regerings Film Bedrijf.