Ariani Darmawan Returns After 15 Years With 'Jani Be Good'

Indonesian director Ariani Darmawan is ending a 15-year absence from filmmaking with "Jani Be Good," her debut feature, which will world premiere in the Asian Future competition at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival.

The film's first trailer has just debuted.

Titled "Desember Jani" in Indonesian, the drama is produced by Jakarta-based Palari Films. The story unfolds over four days in December and follows four women spanning three generations. At its center is 13-year-old Jani, the youngest member of the household. She slowly comes to grasp the different roles the women around her play, while working out how to speak for herself.

Chempa Puteri plays Jani. Sigi Wimala stars as Winnie, Hyori Mika as Julia and Tutie Kirana as the grandmother, Oma. The women on the film's core creative team also span several generations.

Darmawan wanted Cyntha Hariadi to write the screenplay from the outset, having read the writer's short story collection "Manifesto Flora." "Jani Be Good" marks Hariadi's first feature script.

"When I started thinking about this film, I was imagining the small things that happen inside a home: the conversations, the tension, and the feelings that often go unspoken," Darmawan said. "We then developed this story together over three years. Becoming a mother also changed the way I see the relationship between children and parents. From there, Jani grew into my way of looking at these four women characters from different generations, all still learning to understand one another."

Darmawan was a prominent figure in Indonesian short filmmaking through the late 2000s and early 2010s. Her 2008 short "Sugiharti Halim" was selected for competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Producer Meiske Taurisia of Palari Films recalled how the project began. "When I invited Ariani to make a film again three years ago, our conversation didn't start with genre or what kind of film she wanted to make," Taurisia said. "I asked her what the most extraordinary experience in her life had been while she wasn't making films. Her answer was becoming a mother. 'Jani Be Good' began from that simple conversation. For us at Palari Films, this film isn't just about a filmmaker's return after 15 years. It's about giving space for the voices and experiences of women from different generations to meet in one film."

The project was presented at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) in March this year, ahead of its Tokyo selection. After the festival, "Jani Be Good" will open in Indonesian cinemas on Dec. 10.

Palari Films, founded in 2016, is led by Taurisia and Muhammad Zaidy. The company's "Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash" won the Golden Leopard at the 74th Locarno Film Festival. Its other credits include "Aruna and Her Palate," "Posesif," "Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens," "Dear David," the Netflix original "Borderless Fog" and this year's "Sleep No More."

With its Tokyo premiere and a December theatrical release at home, the film will test whether Darmawan's long-gestated return can resonate with festival juries and Indonesian audiences alike.