A Tale of the Stolen River
Syamsiah and Pandi live a simple, happy life in Sepaku, East Kalimantan, until the building of Indonesia's new capital city starts to reach their land and their water. This is not an advocacy film. It is an invitation into the daily rhythm of two people while the ground moves under them.
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 all Javanese. The local children, mostly Bugis and Dayak, rarely came to our school, and when they did they were treated as second-class students. I lived inside that displacement long 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. It asks the viewer to sit inside that instead of being pushed to take a side.
Press & coverage
