Event — Outreach

Scholars meet filmmakers at IDFA: 'Making History, Everyday Life and Shifting Morality in Southeast Asia'

A seminar where scholars meet filmmakers and will discuss questions such as: What is the role of documentary makers in the historiography of Southeast Asia? Do scholars use their documentaries in their work? Where does anthropological work on the everyday meet the moving images of documentary film? How do documentary films as well as scholarly work act as agents of change or shifting morality? And how does censorship obstruct filmmaking and research in Southeast Asia?

Co-organised by International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), KITLV, Leiden University and IIAS.


Movies from Southeast Asia are getting more success in attracting international attention. Following this development the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) explores the state of the art of Southeast Asian documentary film in her theme programme ‘Emerging Voices from Southeast Asia’.

A Seminar where scholars meet filmmakers

For scholars working on Southeast Asia the work of documentary makers is of much interest. Much work for example has been done on how historiography has been impacted by events which have redrawn the political map in Southeast Asian, much less work has been done on how visual images, like documentaries, change the interpretation of historical events.

To address these issues filmmakers and scholars will meet and discuss their work and methods. They will go into questions like what is the role of documentary makers in the historiography of Southeast Asia? Do scholars use their documentaries in their work? Where does anthropological work on the everyday meet the moving images of documentary film? How do documentary films as well as scholarly work act as agents of change or shifting morality? And how does censorship obstruct filmmaking and research in Southeast Asia?

With among others:

The Filmmakers:

The directors of Behind the Screen (Aung Nwai Hyway, Myanmar), Two Girls Against the Rain (Sopheak Sao, Cambodia), Chocolate Comedy (Chairun Nissa, Indonesia), The Brick (Min Thu Aung & Jan Czarlewski, Myanmar), The Mangoes (Tonny Trimarsanto, Indonesia), Boundary (Nontawat Numbenchapol, Thailand)

The Scholars:

Philippe Peycam, director of IIAS (International Institute of Asian Studies) and specialist on Vietnam and Cambodia

Ratna Saptari, assistant professor at Leiden University specialized on social movements and histories of subaltern groups in Southeast Asia

Fridus Steijlen, senior researcher at KITLV (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) working on everyday life in Indonesia.

The Presentators:

The seminar will be presented by Raul Nino Zambrano, IDFA programmer and curator of the ‘Emerging Voices from Southeast Asia’ program and moderated by Bart Barendregt, assistant professor at Leiden University and specialist of popular and digital culture in Southeast Asia.


Entrance: free.

More information: steijlen@kitlv.nl / +31 (0)6 28594643.


The seminar is a co-operation between:

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA): ‘Emerging Voices from Southeast Asia’.
Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)
Leiden University
International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)