Yuni

Sunday, March 20 / 7:00pm / ByTowne cinema

Bleach / Yuni

This program is presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Ottawa.

Feature presentation \

coming-of-age \ teenage rebellion \ modern vs. traditional

Winner of the prestigious Platform Prize at TIFF 2021, Yuni is a brilliant coming of age tale set in small-town Indonesia. Revolving around a bright and lively 16 year-old girl named Yuni, talented director Kamila Andini’s insightful film probes the collision between tradition and modernity in the experience of her protagonist. Yuni is a high-school girl with a passion for the colour purple (the colour associated with power wisdom, and spirituality), her close friends, and normal teenage fantasies and desires. Her family, while loving, is more bound to tradition. So, too, is her school, which announces that it will soon begin mandatory virginity tests for girls. These social pressures do not bother Yuni until her family receives arranged marriage proposals for her. Yuni is not interested, but more and more she sees her future being determined by outside forces and traditional gender restrictions. But she is nothing if not resourceful and, in surprising and ingenious ways, she just might figure her way out. Andini’s intimate, potent drama is propelled by the electrifying performance of Arawinda Kirana as Yuni. “The third feature directed by Andini … further enhances her standing as a vital and intelligent voice in contemporary Indonesian cinema.” Richard Kuipers (Variety)

- Tom McSorley

Short film \

This program is presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Ottawa.