Country: Indonesia, France
Year: 2024
Duration: 100
Johan and Mama reside in a rundown crocodile park, their sanctuary. Johan’s father is nowhere to be seen, but Mama called a white crocodile in the park as Johan’s father. Mama shields Johan from the outside world. With the appearance of a young girl, Arumi, the balance in Johan and Mama’s relationship becomes shaky. Mama disapproved of the relationship, and her dissent manifests in peculiar behavior.Partecipated in the TorinoFilmLab
Biography
film director
Tumpal Tampubolon
(Tarakan Island, Indonesia, 1979) graduated in mathematics from the Bandung Institute of Technology. In 2005 he won the Jakarta Film Festival's screenplay development competition for the short film The Last Believer. Since then he has written and directed shorts screened in various domestic and international film festival. In 2007 he was selected by the Asian Young Filmmakers Forum of the Jeonju Film Festival, South Korea, where he made the short film Drum Lesson. In 2009 he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus and the following year the Asian Film Academy in Busan. He then participated as a director in the collective film Belkibolang, screened in Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Jeonju and at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. In 2014 he won the Citra Award (the most prestigious in Indonesian cinema) for the screenplay of Tabula rasa. In 2017 he then participated in the writing of 212 Warrior, an adaptation of a series of bestselling martial arts books in Indonesia. Crocodile Tears is his first feature.
FILMOGRAFIA
The Last Believer (cm, 2006), Drum Lesson (cm, 2008), Belkibolang (ep., Mamalia, aa. vv. 2010), Soleram (cm, 2011), Laut Memanggilku (The Sea Calls for Me, cm, 2021), Piknik Pesona (ep, serie tv, 2022), Air Mata Buaya (Crocodile Tears, 2024).
Declaration
film director
“A few years ago, I watched a documentary about crocodiles on TV. In one scene, a female crocodile tried to save its hatchling from a predator by sheltering it inside its jaws. There was something both terrifying and tender in the action of the female crocodile, reminiscent of my mother. Following our father’s death in an accident years ago, my mother took on the responsibility of raising my two sisters and me. The incident profoundly affected our family, especially my mother’s mental well-being. Due to the stigma surrounding mental health in Indonesia, it took some time before she received a formal diagnosis of her condition. Her efforts to conceal her struggles only exacerbated the situation. In Crocodile Tears, I attempt to question the idea of care and love, exploring why caring could turn into a burden and why love could become suffocating. The film delves into these ideas within the context of family dynamics. Yes, everyone aspires to be a good parent or child, but what does it truly mean to embody those roles?”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Tumpal Tampubolon. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Teck Siang Lim. EDITING: Jasmine Ng Kin Kia, Kelvin Nugroho. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Jafar. COSTUMES: Hagai Pakan. MUSIC: Kin Leonn. SOUND: Roman Dymny, Bruno Ehlinger, Romain Ozanne. CAST: Yusuf Mahardika, Marissa Anita, Zulfa Maharani. PRODUCTION: Mandy Marahimin for Talamedia, E-Motion Entertainment.
CONTACT: Cercamon dorian@cercamon.biz
