Prasasti / Inscriptions: Unearthing Intertwined Legacies
About the Programme
As part of Asian Film Archive’s contribution to Singapore Biennale, we invite Jakarta-based collective Forum Lenteng to meditate on Southeast Asia, using a lens of the post-colonial and archaeological. Southeast Asia is a landscape constantly being re-written, layer upon layer. In a plural region where oral traditions once recorded dreams, lineage, legends, violence and historical epics, remnants of these forgotten memories are visible in prasasti — carved stone inscriptions found on ancient temple walls or stelae.
In this collaboration between AFA and Forum Lenteng, Prasati / Inscriptions brings together films that revisit objects, landscapes and archives to question how histories and national narratives are constructed and whose stories are allowed to persist. History belongs not only to what is written, but also to what vibrates beneath the surface — can we listen to them together?
Colonial rule brought along the imposition of archives: systematic ways to document, categorise, and remember these histories. Following independence, nation-building projects introduced yet another membrane, producing official narratives that shaped how the past would be remembered within newly formed states.
Every layer of civilisation holds echoes — sometimes faintly heard, sometimes luminous fragments — emerging from stone ruins, media archives, wounded bodies, and landscapes marked by trauma. The notion of archaeology is not merely about excavating the past, but reflects how the materials — stone, fog, celluloid, recorded voices — continue to speak and bear witness to history.
This programme is dedicated to the memory of Yuki Aditya (1980-2026), a member of Forum Lenteng and a transnational film activist.
The Prasasti/Inscriptions programme and film screenings will be accompanied by talks and night tours. The programme will run from 10-26 April 2026 at Oldham Theatre.
About Forum Lenteng
Based in Jakarta, Forum Lenteng is an egalitarian, non-profit organisation founded in 2003, amid a growing eagerness for new cultural freedoms in post-Reformasi Indonesia. Through film production, documentation, research, education and open distribution, Forum Lenteng seeks to decentralise media knowledge and develop visual literacy, spurring the growth of socially-engaged artistic ecosystems. Within Forum Lenteng, the platform Candikala focuses on excavating pre-colonial visual histories through an archaeological lens, recovering lost narratives that have been subject to systematic erasure.
Luthfan Nur Rochman (1993, Indonesia) is a filmmaker, curator, and writer. He is the Executive Director of Forum Lenteng and Festival Director of ARKIPEL, Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival. He also works with Milisifilem, a study group of film production through visual experimentation practices, initiated by Forum Lenteng and Candikala, which tries to contextualise the Hindu-Buddhist heritage and archaeological works in Indonesia through art practices.
Producer, film curator and filmmaker Yuki Aditya (1980-2026, Indonesia) graduated from University of Indonesia, majoring in Fiscal Administration, and worked as a tax auditor in Jakarta. Since 2013, he was the Festival Director of ARKIPEL International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival and then its Artistic Director from 2024 until 2025. He worked as a co-director with I Gde Mika on the films The Hypothesis of Wandering Images of Jakarta (2021) and The Myriad of Faces of Future Challengers (2022). He was appointed as a jury member for IFFR 2025. Yuki also produced many films and managed art projects of Forum Lenteng until his passing in 2026.
Programme Lineup
Feature Films
Turang (1957, Bachtiar Siagian, Indonesia) *introduced by Luthfan Nur Rochman*
Emitaï (1971, Ousmane Sembène, Senegal and France)
Bachtiar (2005, Hafiz Rancajale, Indonesia) *introduced by Luthfan Nur Rochman*
Future Cries Beneath Our Soil (Mùa Cát Vọng, 2018, Pham Thu Hang, Vietnam)
Last Night I Saw You Smiling (2019, Kavich Neang, Cambodia and France) *introduced by Luthfan Nur Rochman*
Segudang Wajah Para Penantang Masa Depan (The Myriad of Faces of the Future Challengers, 2022, Yuki Aditya, I Gde Mika, Indonesia)
Siwalaya (Realm of Shiva, 2022, Afrian Purnama, Yuki Aditya, Indonesia) *introduced by Luthfan Nur Rochman*
Batu-batu di Ketinggian (To The Holy Stones Above Us, 2023, Hafiz Rancajale, Luthfan Nur Rochman, Indonesia) *introduced by Luthfan Nur Rochman*
Muman Minggil (The Road to Ancestor Land-Jayapura, Papua, 2024, Mahardikaa Yudha, Yonri Revolt)
The Films of Shireen Seno
Shotgun Tuding (2014, Shireen Seno, Philippines, Malaysia)
Nervous Translation (2017, Shireen Seno, Philippines)
To Pick A Flower (2021, Shireen Seno, Philippines, Japan)
Southeast Asian Shorts: Palimpsest
Mary, Mary So Contrary (2019, Nelson Yeo, Singapore)
Mangosteen (2023, Tulapop Saroenjaroen, Thailand)
Sparrow in a Storm (Pipit Dalam Badai, 2023, Van Luber Parensen, Indonesia)
A Metamorphosis (အသွင်ပြောင်းလဲမှုတစ်ခု, 2025, Lin Htet Aung, Myanmar)
The Key to the Past (2025, Hafiz Rancajale, Otty Widasari, Helmi Yusron, Syarifa Amira, Indonesia)
Double Bill: Contesting Histories (Mengguggat Sejarah)
FIKSI (2016, Forum Lenteng, Indonesia)
Ocean Mud Pickle (2024, Paribartana Mohanty, India)
Films of Prapat Jiwarangsan: Borders of Porosity
Ploy (พลอย, 2020, Prapat Jiwarangsan, Thailand, Singapore)
Parasite Family (2022, Prapat Jiwarangsan, Thailand)
Myanmar Anatomy (2024, Prapat Jiwarangsan, United Arab Emirates, Thailand)
The Slides of Prof. Somkiat Tang-Namo (2025, Prapat Jiwarangsan, Thailand)
Circulating Vibrant Matters – Triple Bill: Colonialism & the Media
Jati Goes to Rotterdam (2015, Otty Widasari, Indonesia)
Tropic Fever (2022, Mahardika Yudha, Perdana Roswaldy, Robin Hartanto Honggare, Indonesia, Netherlands)
Emergencies (2025, Bart Seng Wen Long, Singapore, Thailand, UK, Vietnam)
Films of Nguyễn Trinh Thi
Landscape Series #1 (2013, Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Vietnam)
Vietnam The Movie (2014, Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Vietnam)
Eleven Men (2016, Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Vietnam)
Letters from Panduranga (2016, Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Vietnam)
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