May 5th, 1923. The Dutch East Indies government celebrated the opening of a new radio station in West Java. It was called Radio Malabar. In March 2020, the local Indonesian government plans to reactivate the station as a historical site and tourist attraction. Tellurian Drama imagines what would have happened in between: the vital role of mountain in history; colonial ruins as an apparatus for geoengineering technology; and the invisible power of indigenous ancestral. Narrated based on the forgotten text written by a prominent pseudo-anthropologist Drs. Munarwan, Tellurian Drama problematizes the notion of decolonisation, geocentric technology, and historicity of communication.
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Title: Tellurian Drama
Length: 26 min
Country of Origin: Indonesia
Completion Year: 2020
Director: Riar Rizaldi
Film stills
About the director
Riar Rizaldi works as an artist and amateur researcher. Born in Indonesia and currently based in Hong Kong. His main focus is on the relationship between capital and technology, extractivism, and theoretical fiction. His works have been shown at Locarno Film Festival, BFI Southbank London, International Film Festival Rotterdam, NTT InterCommunication Center Tokyo, and National Gallery of Indonesia amongst others. His film Tellurian Drama won Best Southeast Asian Short Film at 31st Singapore International Film Festival, 2020.