“Before Now & Then,” a period drama about Indonesian women traumatized by war and patriarchal society, has been selected for distribution in North America by an action film. The film is directed by Camila Andini.
The film premiered earlier this year at the Berlin Festival, where it took home a Silver Bear for Laura Basuki’s supporting performance. He also recently won the Jury Prize at the Brussels International Film Festival.
Film Movement plans for a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2023, followed by a broad release for home entertainment and digital platforms.
The rights sales are handled by Wild Bunch International and CAA Media Finance.
Set in the late 1960s, Nana (played by Happy Salma) can’t escape her past. Poverty, after losing her family in the war in West Java, she remarries and starts a new life. Her new husband is wealthy, but her place in the house is mean and treacherous. Nana suffers in silence until she meets one of her husband’s mistresses and everything changes. Ino (played by Basuki) is someone she can trust, someone who gives her comfort and to whom she can reveal her secrets, both past and present. Together, the two women find hope for new freedom.
“Against the backdrop of rising anti-communist sentiment in Indonesia in the 1960s, ‘Before, Now & Then’ focuses on the particular hardships women are forced to endure in the face of political turmoil,” said Michael Rosenberg, director of the Andini & Associates movement, specifically the performance of Happy Selma. Charming pioneer, they have painted a rich picture of dignity in the face of loss and violence. “[Andini is] One of the most promising Indonesian filmmakers who have emerged in recent years.”
The film is Andini’s fourth film. Previously directed: “The Mirror Never Lies” in 2011. “Visible and Invisible” in 2017; and Uni in 2021.
“Before, Now & Then” is a memory my Sundanese mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother remember. Andini said, “It’s a journey through my roots and history.
Based in New York, Mowfea Film is a North American distributor that has released around 250 American independent and foreign language films in its twenty-year history. Her recent Asian titles include Naomi Kwasi’s “True Mothers,” the popular debut Korean horror film “Aloners,” and the Korean horror’s “Seire.”
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