The Emerald Archipelago Documentary: Indonesian Queer Film Community Fundraiser

Please join us for a community fundraiser to help us raise money for The Emerald Archipelago Documentary. Supported by Melbourne Bergerak.

A Canadian, Australian, Indonesian Production, Suling Bamboo Productions presents "The Emerald Archipelago" Documentary!

An Archipelago of Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer, and Trans Voices Rising in Contemporary Indonesia.

Film Website: www.emeraldarchfilm.com

In collaboration with 2 Canadian producers & co-cinematographers (Melissa & Jay), and a Dutch Sociologist, Saskia Wieringa (the author behind this documentary's inspiration), this event will be joined by the Q&A with the film participants Tara x Mattel & Fikri Arya, the multi-award-winning Queer Australian-Indonesian director Alfred Pek, as well as various performances to be announced soon.

Doors open at 6 pm! Tickets include:

Live performances

Karaoke

Clothes Sale

Exclusive Previews, Q&A Talks,

Some Halal Indonesian food & beverages

(Original Stills from The Emerald Archipelago Documentary)

Quite often, people in the Global North assume that queer individuals in Indonesia are uniformly persecuted. Such blanket statements about the Indonesian archipelago ignore the diverse cultural and religious beliefs within Australia's largest neighbour. Conservative forces have indeed rallied against LGBTQI people, sex outside marriage has been recently criminalised, and institutional discrimination is widespread. But Indonesian queers are surviving and fighting back, often in unexpected ways. 

This film will showcase and challenge the idea that queer behaviour is an introduced notion – lesbian and trans folks, the focus of the film, are shown decolonising their identity from Western labels and reclaiming indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality. Amid the climate of oppression, faith community, poetry, dance, and ritual become tools for survival - and empowerment, which is rediscovered from within Indonesian culture itself, and recreated today through ancestral memory, community building, and the courage of individuals. 

(Original Stills from The Emerald Archipelago Documentary)

It is time Lesbians, Bisexual, and Trans community from the world's largest invisible nation and Australia's largest neighbour have the platform and the opportunity to speak up, share their stories, and remind us of what's at stake in today's ever-changing world. Join us in supporting the completion of this film and hear the voices from the Emerald Archipelago team to share their insights and help us share the message of collaboration and solidarity for the Queer Indonesian community for the rest of the world.

And if you cannot attend but would like to support us anyway, no problem! We have a donation page in the ticket prompts. And don't hesitate to email us at sulingbambooproductions@gmail.com for further questions.

And keep up to date with the film's progress on their social media links below:

https://www.instagram.com/emeraldsarchfilm/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555527294868

https://www.threads.com/@emeraldsarchfilm

(Original Stills from The Emerald Archipelago Documentary)