Memories of My Body

Internationally celebrated Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho (Opera Jawa, A Woman from Java) tells a poetic tale about the encounter between masculinity and femininity in a human body. Selected for the prestigious Horizons programme at Venice, Nugroho's sensual film is inspired by the life of Rianto, the famous dancer and choreographer who collaborated with Nugroho on his acclaimed 2017 work Medium and also appears here. The story centres on Juno, a village boy who was abandoned as a child. Strongly aware of both his masculine and feminine sides from a young age, Juno is drawn to a troupe that performs the gender-transcending Javanese dance form of lengger. Gender-fluid Juno's eventful journey in life and dance is framed against the backdrop of social and political upheavals that have given rise to violence, intolerance and discrimination of those who perform lengger. Nugroho's visually striking and thematically rich film is a celebration of Javanese dance and an emotionally rewarding tale about finding truth and beauty in one's own body.

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