Next RAS Lecture - Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Cinema - Thursday March 14th 6pm

Image from the film poster for the 1978 Indonesian Film Betty Bencong Slebor

"A number of films made in Indonesia since 1998 have been noted for their positive images of alternative genders and sexualities. Many commentators and critics have welcomed these movies as representing a welcome break from constructions of gay, lesbi and waria (male to female transgender) identities during the New Order period (1966-98), which are often written off as universally negative and pathologising. This lecture will take a fresh look at a number of those films and propose that it is time for a reappraisal of this view. Not only do the films reflect the emergence and growing visibility of sexual and gender minorities in Indonesian cities, but so too they often suggest a genuine desire to engage with social prejudices and difficulties which gay, lesbi and waria Indonesians were perceived to face. Drawing on archival research, interviews, focus groups and analysis of the films themselves, the lecture will invoke new and queer ways of looking at cinematic constructions of alternative genders and sexualities in Indonesia.The Lecture will be accompanied by a number of images and short clips from representative films."