Tellurian Drama

Tellurian Drama

2020 / Indonesia / 26 minutes / dir. Riar Rizaldi.

Synopsis

May 5th, 1923. The Dutch East Indies government celebrated the opening of a new radio station in West Java. It was called Radio Malabar. In March 2020, the local Indonesian government plans to reactivate the station as a historical site and tourist attraction. “Tellurian Drama” imagines what would have happened in between: the vital role of mountain in history; colonial ruins as an apparatus for geoengineering technology; and the invisible power of indigenous ancestral. Narrated based on the forgotten text written by a prominent pseudo-anthropologist Drs. Munarwan, “Tellurian Drama” problematizes the notion of decolonisation, geocentric technology and historicity of communication.

Director

Riar Rizaldi works as an artist and filmmaker. He is currently based in Indonesia and Hong Kong. His main focus is on the relationship between capital and technology, extractivism, and theoretical fiction. His works have been shown at the Locarno Film Festival, BFI Southbank London, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, NTT InterCommunication Center Tokyo, Centre Pompidou Paris, Times Museum Guangzhou and the National Gallery of Indonesia, among others.