Feature: Garin Nugroho to Stage His New Silent Film with Live Orchestra

Djarum Bakti Budaya and SET Production proudly presents "Satan Jawa", a silent film with live scoring directed by Garin Nugroho and composed by Rahayu Suppangah. The work evokes Javanese mythology and adapts it to a contemporary dance film inspired by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's classic work 'Nosferatu'.

The audience in Jakarta can see the show for a Special Preview in Teater Jakarta - TIM Cikini, 3-4 September 2016. For this Indonesia premiere show, the silent film will be accompanied by a gamelan score composed by Rahayu Supanggah.

Next year, Satan Jawa will be presented by Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of the inaugural Asia TOPA: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts. A symphonic score by Rahayu Supanggah and Australian composer Iain Grandage is currently in production and details on Melbourne preview will be released soon.

Satan Jawa tells a story of love and human tragedy set against the backdrop of the early 20th Century. The film explores the Indonesian pre-orthodox Islamic stories of the deal man makes with The Devil to gain wealth. Setio, a young poor village man falls in love with the beautiful Asih, a Javanese aristocratic princess. His failed proposal sets him on a path to seek fortune by making a deal with the Satan. He becomes rich on the condition that one part of his house must continuously be renovated and when the time comes Setio must redeem himself by becoming one of the pillars supporting his own house. When Asih discovers her husband has made this deal she herself goes in search of Satan to bargain for mercy.

Photo credit: Satan Jawa the Movie