Joko Anwar
Encyclopedia
Early life
Joko Anwar was born in 3 January 1976 in a poor kampong in MedanMedan
- Demography :The city is Indonesia's fourth most populous after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, and Indonesia's largest city outside of Java island. Much of the population lies outside its city limits, especially in Deli Serdang....
, North Sumatera where he grew up watching kung fu movies and horror films. He had also written and directed plays as a student. He went to Institut Teknologi Bandung to study Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
because his family could not afford to send him to a film school
Film school
The term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. After graduated in 1999, he became a journalist at The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post is a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara, and the head office is in the nation's capital, Jakarta....
and later a film critic.
Career
During an interview with Nia DinataNia Dinata
Nurkurniati Aisyah Dewi , better known as Nia Dinata, is an award-winning Indonesian film director...
for The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post is a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara, and the head office is in the nation's capital, Jakarta....
, the film producer was impressed and asked him to write for her new project which was later titled Arisan!
Arisan!
Arisan! is a 2003 Indonesian film that has drawn more than 100,000 viewers. It is the first Indonesian film with a gay theme, and the first Indonesian film to use high-definition color enhancement. It uses a mixture of English, standard Indonesian and Jakartan slang...
(2003). The film earned commercial and critical success and won numerous awards including "Best Film" at the 2005 Indonesian Film Festival
Indonesian Film Festival
Festival Film Indonesia or known as FFI is an annual film festival organised by Indonesian Film Festival Committee...
and "Best Movie" at the 2004 MTV Indonesia Movie Awards
MTV Indonesia Movie Awards
MTV Indonesia Movie Awards is an awards show in Indonesia which were established in 1995. The show is based on the US MTV Movie Awards format celebrating local film and actors.-Host Cities:-Categories:...
. He went on to direct a feature film, the romantic comedy Janji Joni (Joni's Promise) (2005), which he wrote when he was in college in 1998. This feature directorial debut was the #1 box office hit in Indonesia that year and won "Best Movie" at the 2005 MTV Indonesia Movie Awards. SET Foundation which is chaired by renowned Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho
Garin Nugroho
Garin Nugroho Riyanto , better known as Garin Nugroho, is an award-winning Indonesian film director.-Biography:Nugroho was born in Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta on 6 June 1961. He was the fourth child of postal workers Soetjipto Amin and Mariah, who eventually had seven children...
gave him a special award for innovative storytelling in a movie. Janji Joni (Joni's Promise) was selected in several prestigious international film festivals including by Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
and Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
. The film revived the career of Barry Prima
Barry Prima
Barry Prima is an Indonesian actor and martial artist who was one of the biggest stars of Indonesian cinema during the 1980s. Of Indo ethnicity, he is the oldest of 4 siblings to a Dutch father and Indonesian mother.-Filmography:*Realita, Cinta dan Rock'n Roll a.k.a. Reality, Love, and Rock'N Roll...
, an international cult martial-art actor, who is Anwar's childhood hero.
In 2007, Joko Anwar wrote and directed Kala, Indonesia's first tribute to film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
which won rave reviews from critics. Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
picked the film as one of the year's best and also named Anwar as one of the smartest filmmakers in Asia. The film was screened in numerous film festivals and won a Jury Prize at the New York Asian Film Festival
New York Asian Film Festival
The New York Asian Film Festival was first held in 2002, growing out of the previous year's New York Korean Film Festival...
. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
wrote the film as "a sophisticated noir whodunit in homage to Fritz Lang's "M."" The film has also been compared to the works of Alex Proyas
Alex Proyas
Alexander "Alex" Proyas is a Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing such films as The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot and Knowing. He is known for employing a stylish photographic techniques in his films, with dark overtones usually in a post-apocalyptic...
and Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...
.
In additions to films that Anwar directed himself, he has also written several screenplays for other directors, including a sex comedy Quickie Express
Quickie Express
Quickie Express is a 2007 Indonesian movie. Directed by Dimas Djayadiningrat, it stars Tora Sudiro, Aming, Sandra Dewi, and Lukman Sardi. It premiered on 22 November 2007 and won Best Film at the Jakarta International Film Festival...
which won Best Film of 2008 at the Jakarta International Film Festival
Jakarta International Film Festival
The Jakarta International Film Festival is the major film festival of Indonesia held every December in the capital, Jakarta, since 1999....
and a cat-and-mouse thriller Jakarta Undercover. Both movies are box-office success. He also wrote Fiksi which won several awards in Indonesia including Best Film and Best Screenplay at the Indonesian Film Festival
Indonesian Film Festival
Festival Film Indonesia or known as FFI is an annual film festival organised by Indonesian Film Festival Committee...
.
Anwar's next film, Pintu Terlarang, was released in 2009 which is a psychological thriller which has also received rave reviews from critics. Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
of TIME
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
wrote that "As slick as it is sick, the movie could be Anwar's calling card for international employment, if only Hollywood moguls wanted something out of their own narrow range". He also mentioned the film as an "example of what movies could be but rarely dare to try". Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
wrote that Anwar's film "would make Hitchcock and Almodovar proud", and mentioned that "Joko Anwar accessorizes his creepy suspense-horror with a dazzling array of auteur-homage". The film has been screened in several film festivals including in The Times BFI London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
, New York Asian Film Festival
New York Asian Film Festival
The New York Asian Film Festival was first held in 2002, growing out of the previous year's New York Korean Film Festival...
, and Dead by Dawn
Dead by Dawn
Dead by Dawn is a film festival in Edinburgh, Scotland specifically devoted to horror films. Established in 1993 by Adele Hartley, this is a discovery festival showcasing mostly independent films, both short films and feature length films...
.
Filmography
- Janji Joni a.k.a. "Joni's PromiseJoni's PromiseJanji Joni is a 2005 film, a romantic comedy, directed by Joko Anwar starring Nicholas Saputra, Mariana Renata, and Rachel Maryam.-Plot:...
(English title) (2005) (writer/director) - Arisan!Arisan!Arisan! is a 2003 Indonesian film that has drawn more than 100,000 viewers. It is the first Indonesian film with a gay theme, and the first Indonesian film to use high-definition color enhancement. It uses a mixture of English, standard Indonesian and Jakartan slang...
(2003) (writer) - Jakarta Undercover (2007) (writer)
- Kala (2007) (writer/director)
- Quickie ExpressQuickie ExpressQuickie Express is a 2007 Indonesian movie. Directed by Dimas Djayadiningrat, it stars Tora Sudiro, Aming, Sandra Dewi, and Lukman Sardi. It premiered on 22 November 2007 and won Best Film at the Jakarta International Film Festival...
(2007) (writer) - Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet!Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet!Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! is a 2008 Indonesian film directed by Djenar Maesa Ayu. Starring Titi Sjuman, 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 won three Citra Awards at the Indonesian Film...
(cameo) - Fiksi (2008) (writer)
- Pintu Terlarang a.k.a. The Forbidden Door (English Title) (2009) (writer/director)
Education
- SMA Negeri 1 Medan (1993)
- Wheeling Park High SchoolWheeling Park High SchoolWheeling Park High School is a high school in Wheeling, West Virginia, United States, and is the only public high school serving Ohio County, West Virginia. Park, as it is sometimes called, is home to roughly 2,000 students in grades 9-12....
, West VirginiaWest VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, USUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(1994) - Institut Teknologi Bandung, Aeronautical Engineering (1999)