Sumatra, Jawa, Kalimantan (Gazes from the Colony)

Directed by

Afrian Purnama

Amateur films occupy a peculiar space in the colonial film archive. They belong to the private drawers of personal history and family memory, yet they also provide a valuable record of how social conditions were shaped by class divisions and racial hierarchies. Amateur films reveal how deeply colonial power infiltrated every aspect of daily life. Sumatra, Jawa, Kalimantan (Gazes from the Colony) consists of amateur footage recorded on three islands during Dutch rule. Each island's distinctive imagery reveals a difterent facet of how colonialism operated. In Java, domestic and leisure activities are foregrounded, while in Sumatra and Kalimantan imagery is dominated by plantations and resource extraction. As visitors approach the screens, their bodies create shadows interrupting the film projection and inviting the audience to reflect on their own relationship to these images.