bendungan

Through choreographed gestures and intimate interviews, personal, intimate stories unravel against the historical backdrop of the Dutch colonial project throughout the Malay world (Nusantara). In the Indonesian language, 'bendungan' can refer to a dam, river bank or sea bank. The film meanders along the Solo river, drifts through the Maluku archipelago and floods into the North Sea of the Netherlands. bendungan follows three people who live close to water bodies in Indonesia and the Netherlands, revealing among them uncanny affinities that curl colonial time and cross oceanic space.

by and with jee chan, Duong Dieu Linh, Dwi Wahyu Cahyono, Ainul Fikri, Ron Habiboe, Mike Hapsari, Margaret Hukom, Pak Jokowi, Pak Kethu, Peter Lenaerts, Liao Jiekai, Umi Maisaroh, Arnold Nanlohy, Claricia Parinussa, Panji Pramayana, Stefan Pente, Bilawa Ade Respati, Elysa Wendi, Nelson Yeo

special thanks to all at Studio Plesungan, Melati Suryodarmo, Jeremy Chua, Olivia Griselda, Jereh Leung

a film by jee chan, produced at the Cinemovement Lab VI: Solo. funded through the arbeits- und rechercheförderung of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, the graduate residency scholarship of the Fonds Darstellende Künste, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the NEUSTART KULTUR programme, DIS-TANZEN aid programme of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and the National Arts Council, Singapore. residency support from Studio Plesungan and Tanzfabrik Berlin. research process supported by Goethe-Institute Singapore