Skip to main content
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts film image; rickety truck drives next to person on horse

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak

Leading Lights

This event has passed

Marlina (Marsha Timothy), a recently bereaved widow, is set upon by a group of men with rape on their minds—but she sure knows how to fight back. Emerging from the encounter with a severed head in her possession, our heroine sets off on a mission to seek legal justice. In her dealings with the police, she’ll face indifference and incompetence, and there are other obstacles thrown in her path. But she’s a dedicated woman, and, in addition to the head, she’s packing a machete…

I had the rare opportunity to watch this film with the writer-director, Mouly Surya, when I was taking part in the Asian Film Academy in Korea in 2019. It was a 9 am screening, and Mouly was the directing mentor for the program, and this was the first time I would get the chance to explore her work. I remember being entranced, as the hotel conference room the film was being projected in transformed into rural Indonesia, a place with wide expanses, rolling hills, and bloody vengeance. Mouly took the tropes of a spaghetti western, to tell a blazing feminist fable of heart-wrenching solidarity.

Her use of genre to drive home the nail-biting tension of our protagonist’s journey inspired me to dive headfirst into genre as both a political and cinematic tool. Etched into my mind, is the scene in which Marlina has to recount her harrowing ordeal to a bored cop. His listless attitude, and line of questioning, make it clear to Marlina that there is no justice for her here. The film finds solace and catharsis through community, and offers no easy answers. I’m thrilled to share the world’s first satay western with VIFF audiences—a pressure cooker of a film, that offers spectacular violence and deep reflection in equal measure.

Zarrar Khan, Leading Lights Curator

 

Supported by

Director
Cast

Marsha Timothy, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama, Egy Fedly, Yoga Pratama, Rita Matu

Credits
Country of Origin

Indonesia/France/Malaysia/
Thailand

Year

2017

Language

In Indonesian with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
93 min
Action & Suspense Cinemas of Asia Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Legendary Filmmakers Women Directors
Cinesurya, Kaninga Pictures, Shasha & Co. Production, Astro Shaw, Hooq Originals, Purin Pictures

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Rama Adi, Fauzan Zidni

Screenwriter

Mouly Surya, Rama Adi

Cinematography

Yunus Pasolang

Editor

Kelvin Nugroho

Original Music

Zeke Khaseli, Yudhi Arfani

Art Director

Frans Paat

Mouly Surya headshot; Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts director

Mouly Surya

Born in Jakarta in 1980, Mouly Surya is considered one of the most promising female filmmakers in Indonesia. Surya had a degree in media and literature before studying film in Australia. She directed her first feature film in 2008, Fiksi. It opened at Busan IFF and won numerous awards including Best Director at JIFFEST. Her second feature What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013) screened at various film festivals including Sundance, Karlovy Vary, and Rotterdam where it won the NETPAC Award. Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), Surya’s third film, premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Filmography: Fiksi (2008); What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Foreigner

Dir. Ava Maria Safai
83 min

An Iranian teenager who recently immigrated to Canada is desperate to make friends at her new high school. Pressured to dye her hair blonde, she unleashes a demonic force rooted within her. A humourous coming-of-age horror from Ava Maria Safai.

The Rio Theatre International Village 10

Clan of the Painted Lady

Dir. Jennifer Chiu
101 min

Jennifer Chiu’s engrossing documentary explores the Hakka — a people, a language, and a culture that have been obscured for far too long. Tracing her own lineage back to from Canada to China, the director creates an illuminating, bravely personal film.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Finch & Midland
Finch & Midland film image; depressed looking man standing in front of a mirror

Finch & Midland

Dir. Timothy Yeung 楊永光
110 min

Timothy Yeung’s film tells the story of four Hong Kong immigrants living in Scarborough, Ontario. With exceptional performances from its four leads, the film explores the Asian diaspora, social malaise, and the hardships of life under late capitalism.

International Village 10
The Essence of Eva
The Essence of Eva film image; woman pressing her arm to her mouth

The Essence of Eva

Dir. Malcolm Willis & Alex Fegan
85 min

Tragically dying years before she’d rise to global fame, Eva Cassidy was an uncompromising artist whose transcendent voice still resonates. With never-before-heard recordings and footage, this intimate portrait captures the person behind the legend.

Granville Island Stage International Village 9
4: Um, womanhood
Nine Times Better film image; cartoon pair of legs sticking out from a green sphere

4: Um, womanhood

Dir. Various
108 min

Shorts from: Canada, Columbia, France, Netherlands, Sweden.

International Village 7
The Strange Little Cat
The Strange Little Cat film image; excited young girl at a breakfast table

The Strange Little Cat

Dir. Ramon Zürcher
72 min

This droll, perfectly executed comedy chronicles a day in the life of a multigenerational family prepping a celebratory dinner in their cramped Berlin apartment. Putting daily life’s absurdities on display, it's an exciting choreography of the quotidian.

The Cinematheque