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400WORDS
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400WORDS
IDFA 2013

400WORDS

400KATA
Ismail Basbeth
Indonesia
2013
13 min
World Premiere
Festival history
An engaged couple is lunching in a cafeteria, and we follow their conversation as they go into minute detail about what needs to be organized for the upcoming wedding. She stabs compulsively at the food on her plate as they discuss the dowry, and he waves around his hands. Then, quite suddenly, they stop. Now we find out that the conversation was a setup. We are watching a film about the film the couple made about the period leading up to their nuptials. We learn that in Indonesia's culturally divided society, neither the preparations nor the wedding itself are simple. By way of proof, the conversation doesn't proceed entirely as they had planned for their wedding video. The discussion continues behind the camera, with the director frequently appearing onscreen and getting involved. The young man asks him what he thinks. Laughing, he answers, "For me, just to listen to it, I feel: damn, marriage is a complicated thing!" This is a glimpse into the life of a modern young people struggling with their parents' cultural legacy.
Credits
Screening copy
    Bosan Berisik Lab
    Bosan Berisik Lab