Indonesia movie wins two film festival honors in France

Friday, 5 February 2010

The Jakarta Post

Indonesian film Jamila dan Sang Presiden (Jamila and the President), written and directed by woman activist Ratna Sarumpaet, has won two honors at the Asian Film Festival in Vesoul, France.

The film was rated the best in two competition categories, namely the Prix de Public and the Prix Jury Lyceen, according to Gita L Murti, a social and cultural affairs official at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris in a statement to Antara state news agency in London on Thursday.

Jamila, screened at a number of international film festivals in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Australia, highlights the issues of poverty and underage sex trafficking in Indonesia.

Last year, the movie won a NETPAC Award at the Asiatica Film Mediale festival organized in Rome, Italy.

The movie has also been selected to represent Indonesia in the foreign language category, competing for the Oscar with movies from 64 other countries.