Hanung kicks off new year with movie on history

JAKARTA: More quality movies have been produced this year adding color to the local silver screen industry and pushing second-grade B-movies aside. Next year, director Hanung Bramantyo promises us another one.

"In 2010, I want to make a movie on Muhammadiyah founder Ahmad Dahlan," Hanung said, as quoted by newsportal inilah.com this week. Javanese figure Ahmad Dahlan was one of the country's early Moslem activists who helped set up the foundation of modern Islamic thinking in Indonesia.

It seems that after his commercial success Ayat-ayat Cinta (Love Verses), Hanung wants to embrace a different genre and put history under the limelight, packaging something boring into something more popular, he says.

"I hope the that public can respond positively and it will inspire other *movie* producers," the 34-year-old director said. - JP