Mouly Surya returns to Netflix after a gap of six years. Jessica Alba Picture “Trigger Warning” and How “Burst For Content” Changed Indonesian Filmmaking – Tokyo Film Festival

Very little has been heard from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya since her breakout film at Cannes in 2017 Marlina, the murderer in four acts.

“I was like everyone else in the pandemic, I wore a mask, stayed at home and was afraid I would die if I left the house and took the whole family with me,” Surya told Deadline at the Tokyo Film Festival , where she received the honorary Kurosawa Akira Award.

Surya released three features. your debut fictionwon four awards, including Best Film at the 2008 Film Indonesia Festival. Her second film, What they don’t talk about when they talk about love (2013) was the first Indonesian film to be selected for the Sundance Film Festival. Her third film was released in 2017, MarlinaAfter its debut in Cannes, the film was released in cinemas in 14 countries, including the United States, Canada and Japan. The film also won the top prize at Tokyo Filmex and was selected as Indonesia’s Oscar entry.

She will return next year with two feature films, including an English-language Netflix film titled Activate alarm, with Jessica Alba. Below, Surya talks to Deadline about her time away from the film industry, her foray into filmmaking in Hollywood, working with Jessica Alba, and how the new wave of content has changed filmmaking in Indonesia.

DEADLINE: It’s been a while since your last film, Marlina the Murderer in four acts. What did you do?

MOULY SURYA: I was like everyone else in the pandemic, wearing a mask, staying at home, afraid I would die if I left the house and took the whole family with me. My next film This city is a battlefield, was almost ready to film in 2020 when the pandemic hit Indonesia (and the world). We decided to postpone filming and I immediately started developing the script again because I didn’t want the focus of the production to shift to the prevention of COVID-19 instead of making a good film, in short make. I’ve been writing a lot and this year I finally did an ad, which thankfully paid the bills.

And in 2021, an American/Hollywood project I was developing suddenly got the green light for production. So I flew to the US and shot another film there before I finally started filming battlefield when I returned to Indonesia at the beginning of the year.

DEADLINE: It feels like a lot has changed in the world and in the industry since 2017. What have you made of the past few years?

SURYA: The world has changed. Cinema has changed, and audiences have also changed, and we see before our eyes how everything changes so quickly. The rise of social media and how it’s killing the video star – I find it quite fascinating. And how one platform kills the other so quickly in less than a decade.

Suddenly you’re watching very short videos on Instagram Reels if you’re older, or on TikTok if you’re younger; an entertaining and light 90-minute film on a streaming platform; or a three-hour film in the cinema. There are many differences between these categories, but the world seems to need a lot of content right now. That’s crazy.

In Indonesia, there has been a significant increase in resources as well as new talent and new voices. In recent years, the government has provided considerable support and stimulus to the film industry and filmmakers. New funding, good support for co-productions and our audience is looking forward to the next big thing and they are very excited.

DEADLINE: What do you think about the current filmmaking ecosystem? What are the biggest trends you’ve noticed?

SURYA: The breakout for content. Everyone in Indonesia loves web content, web series, series and of course, thank God, features. For a smaller industry like Indonesia this is a big change and hopefully our resources will also grow with more productions in the works. The popular films that do well in Indonesian cinemas – horror films or melodramatic films that make people cry – that hasn’t changed, and I think you can see that with streaming as well. Even if streamers take the approach of having everything for everyone. So there is a lot of content to create, but not yet enough people to create it, and no system to regulate it yet. It sounds crazy, but because you learned a different system, I think it also gives you a lot of freedom as a filmmaker. The kind of freedom you get in an evolving industry and nowhere else. Sometimes it can be very liberating.

DEADLINE: IMDb states that you currently have two projects in production, scheduled for 2024. Is that correct? Can you tell me about these projects and when will we see them?

SURYA: Yes it is true. I mean, I haven’t released a film in six years, and in 2024 I’ll have two. How crazy is that? I also have a new film in development that will shoot early next year. This is a script I wrote at the beginning of the pandemic. Now I’m busy adjusting the script and the clock is ticking as the production schedule approaches.

DEADLINE: You worked independently on your latest features. What was it like working with Netflix on “Trigger Warning”? Has it changed the way you work?

SURYA: Job change? Try to change your life. Working with Netflix means doing a full union production with lots of rules, joining the DGA and working side by side with my teenage crush on Dark Angel. They sent me a first-class ticket to New Mexico to live there for five months, rented me a car that drives across the street, and gave me this beautiful trailer during filming. In 2016, I shot Marlina with a 9-inch monitor and a budget of less than a million dollars.

They do a very different, very systematic way of filming and everyone is very good at their job. It’s a film that’s not in my language or culture, so I listened a lot to the people I worked with. It can be very easy to set the tone when you are surrounded by great people and working in a system that is already set up for your success. I have no intention of painting a pink brush over it. I mean, it was very pressured and very intense, but I accept everything. But directing is directing – you already have an idea of ​​what a scene should look like, and I’ve been with the script long enough to know exactly what to do with it. The challenge was to communicate this across cultural boundaries. So I think I have to change the way I communicate and also dream bigger because that’s what you do in America.

DEADLINE: How did the trigger warning come about? What was it like working with Jessica Alba?

SURYA: The night after the premiere I was approached by my agent Marlina, the murderer in four acts at the Quinzaine in Cannes. About a little less than a year after I started reading Hollywood scripts, tractor came with great enthusiasm from my team – because in a way tractor reminds us a lot of that Marlina – a strong female lead, a western setting but with lots of action scenes. In a way it was similar and yet so different, comfortable and yet not comfortable at the same time. That was my initial attraction to the film. Then I Skyped the producers – we’re in pre-Zoom days – and shared that feeling with them. I think that’s why I got the job.

Jessica began to show interest in the project. I had my first phone conversation with her. It was so surreal because that morning I had just come from my yoga class and had coffee with my friends. During the hour-long phone conversation about the film, we both shared our views. I remember saying that this would be my first project in Hollywood, and I know absolutely nothing about Hollywood or how they work, but I know how to make a film, how to direct it, and I will mine be. Do our best to get our vision right. Jessica was one of my biggest allies throughout the development and production process. I remember watching her talk about supporting other women, especially women of color, and how there is enough room for all of us on the big stage. Well, she really lives up to that speech because that’s exactly how I felt working with her.

DEADLINE: Returning to filmmaking as someone who is internationally successful, is it easier to realize projects? If so why?

SURYA: I find it easier since I did it What they don’t talk about when they talk about love. I still remember how the actors rejected my first film. But in battlefieldI was honestly surprised at how different it is. It was day and night. Even I feel that people are reluctant to disagree with me. I said to myself, ‘Wow, am I a big movie director now?’ It’s so surreal, but at the same time so scary because the expectations are so high that you won’t believe it.

I understand. People put directors on a pedestal after seeing the success of their films. Especially after I made it tractor. Even if no one has seen the film yet, there’s still the title “Hollywood director,” which I honestly find a bit odd at times. But I think I experienced something that not many people at home experienced. The perception has changed. For them, I am no longer the young, happy director who only makes strange and depressing films.

DEADLINE: What do you plan to do in this next phase of your career?

SURYA: To be honest, I don’t have a five-year plan or a specific plan in general. I am one of those who live today and hope for the best for tomorrow. In filmmaking, nothing is ever certain. I mean, look at 2020 – suddenly there’s a plague and people aren’t allowed to go to the theater. So I’m just planning for next year, which is over battlefieldI’m going to shoot the other film next year, although I have to finish and publish the script first tractor Next year. Then let’s see what the following has to offer by me.

DEADLINE: Why was it important to you to receive the Kurosawa Akira Award in Tokyo?

SURYA: As we all know, a female director is a rare breed. There are few legendary names with worldwide recognition, especially from Asia, like Akira Kurosawa for female directors. We just don’t get that kind of recognition because we were under the impression that we only made niche products. But we don’t just do that. There are many examples of female filmmakers making bigger films and managing to achieve huge success at the box office while staying true to their voice, like Greta Gerwig Barbie. To receive this award as a filmmaker from Southeast Asia means so much more because it is an award not only for me but also for future filmmakers from the region who have such big dreams, visions so unique that you can imagine that they can imagine the whole world you have to see it.