A Tale of the Stolen River
Syamsiah and Pandi live a simple, fulfilling life in Sepaku, East Kalimantan — until construction of Indonesia's new capital city begins to reach their land and their water. Not an advocacy film but a reflective one: an invitation into the daily rhythm of two people as the ground shifts beneath them.
Syamsiah dan Pandi menjalani hidup yang sederhana dan cukup di Sepaku, Kalimantan Timur — sampai pembangunan ibu kota baru Indonesia merambat ke tanah dan air mereka. Bukan film advokasi, melainkan undangan masuk ke ritme keseharian dua orang ketika tanah di bawah kaki mereka bergeser.
Credits, specifications & director's statement
- Director & writer
- Mahatma Putra
- Producers
- Muttaqiena Imaamaa · Permata Adinda
- Executive producer
- Yuliasri Perdani
- Associate producer
- Frederica Nancy
- With
- Syamsiah · Pandi
- Cinematography
- Mahatma Putra · Lidwina Audrey
- Editing
- Fahrizal Mohammad · Mahatma Putra · Jason Rafael Chandra
- Sound & SFX
- Hari Kurnia
- Assistant director
- Lidwina Audrey
- Supervisors
- Fahri Salam · Ricky Yudhistira
- Specifications
- 28 min 33 sec · colour · Indonesian
- Completed
- 10 March 2025
- Produced with
- Project Multatuli
Director's statement. I grew up in Bontang, East Kalimantan, about two hundred kilometres from IKN Zero Point, inside a gated housing complex built by the fertiliser company my parents worked for — fenced, guarded, and almost entirely Javanese. The local children, mostly Bugis and Dayak, rarely came to our school, and when they did they were treated as second-class students. Displacement was the water I swam in before I had a word for it.
The headlines about the new capital are about water use, wildlife and planning failures. This film is not about those. It follows what the Balik people actually live through — the feelings, the daily routine, the nightmares — and asks the viewer to sit inside that rather than be argued into a position.
Press & coverage
