Indonesian cinema is on the brink of global recognition. As the country with the fourth largest population in the world, Indonesia boasts a growing film market, a productive movie industry, and an ever-expanding lineup of visionary directors. One of the most prominent of these filmmakers is Yosep Anggi Noen, who first caught international attention at the Locarno Film Festival with his 2019 experimental film, The Science of Fictions. 

Four years later, Noen is making the festival rounds once more, this time with an entirely different film. Deviating from his arthouse roots, Noen tries his hand at action and romance with 24 Hours with Gaspar, a film that has all the markings of a blockbuster hit. It’s mean and it’s big, but Noen infuses it with a hint of the absurd. The result is a highly watchable social commentary about his home country. At the Busan International Film Festival, where the film made its world premiere, we sat down with Noen to discuss the differences between arthouse and commercial movies, the promising state of Indonesian films, and what it takes to make a good old action sequence. 

This interview has been edited for publication.

Projektor: What made you want to adapt 24 Hours with Gaspar from a novel to a film? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of sci-fi movies in Indonesian and Southeast Asian cinema in general.

Yosep Anggi Noen: The novel itself is popular in Indonesia, especially among the edgy subculture. But as you said, dystopian movies are not common in Indonesian cinema. The closest might be The Science of Fictions, which is my movie as well. It was Visinema Pictures and [studio founder and executive producer] Angga Sasongko who asked me if I could direct this adaptation of 24 Hours with Gaspar. Normally, I direct movies that I’d written myself, so working on someone else’s script was challenging for sure. But I said yes immediately. Angga said, “Let’s not approach this like some low-budget movie. Let’s make this decent.” It was a great opportunity to work with a different style and treatment, so I went for it.

Was the movie script faithful to the original story?

It’s modified. The novel itself is very talky. The characters talk about morals and what makes a good guy and a bad guy, all that stuff. And they only talk about the robbery, but they don’t actually enact it. In film, however, you need to excite audiences. So we said, “Let’s add a car crash. Let’s add that motorcycle chase. Let’s add guns, actions, fighting.”

What was the biggest challenge you faced making this movie?

I’ve never made an action film before. Those technical scenes, like the car chases, I had to learn all those from scratch. I spoke with the action director, the choreography director, and I spoke with Angga as well, and I told them all how much I knew, which wasn’t a lot. I said, “I don’t know how to execute this, but I have a vision.” I was humbled, and they taught me. I made some compromises and changed the vision depending on what I learned. I asked questions like “Can I crash this car into the water?” They were willing to try all these different things.

“The industry should support the high demand for cinema, but the challenge for us filmmakers is to make good films.”

I was gonna ask how you directed the action scenes, because they move so smoothly. 

In Indonesia, martial artists are highly regarded, so I tried my best to listen and learn from them. I didn’t want to embarrass myself with the quality of my action scenes. And I’m not the sort of director who ignores input. I only have my vision, but ultimately, it’s up to everyone to realize it. 

In the first action scene, where Gaspar battles those thugs, it was my vision to use the moving drone. The lighting wasn’t static as well, and it was moving along with the drone. It’s subtle, but this is how I tried to “upgrade” otherwise ordinary action scenes. I think I have a nice sensibility with lighting. Sometimes I’ll move the actors all the way to the other side just to catch some sunlight. 

Since we’re celebrating Indonesian cinema in Busan this year, where do you think Indonesian films are headed?

Let’s talk about business. Indonesia has one of the biggest film markets in the world. The industry should support the high demand for cinema, but the challenge for us filmmakers is to make good films. 

In Indonesia, people are literate now. They have options, they have taste, they want to watch good Indonesian films. They set the bar, they support directors, and in the next years, I’m sure the next big thing’s gonna be from Indonesia. We can see that in the international festivals: there are a lot of Indonesian films. People notice our arthouse and blockbusters, it’s amazing. Last week, all the Hollywood films in Indonesia were put in the backseat because of three local movies— two horrors, one musical, all Indonesian. People come to the cinemas and they’re happy with the quality. It’s a very promising time.

24 hours with Gaspar is a dystopian film, a comedy, a mystery. But there’s also a lot of social commentary. It’s rich versus poor, it’s young girls being trafficked, and there’s also something about global warming with the country slowly sinking. 

Oh, I’m sorry that sounds like a lot.

No that’s a good thing! Do you think it reflects the current state of Indonesia? 

We’re at a time in history where nothing is certain. With global warming, it has us thinking, should we stay or flee? What habits should we change? We’re drenched in all sorts of issues, but you can only do so much. And a lot of the people trying to fix global warming in international conferences are riding private jets themselves, so it kind of gets you thinking, is any of this worth it?

Sometimes, the next best thing you can do is simply live your life, to the fullest if you can. If you have a family, see them as much as you can. If every day feels overwhelming, take it one day at a time. 

Live as if you only have 24 hours left, like Gaspar.

Yeah, exactly. Let’s finish our 24 hours here on Earth.