TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Fans awaken ahead of latest '€˜Star Wars'€™

Die-hard followers of the Dark Side and the Force are getting ready to flock to cinemas in the city to watch the much-anticipated seventh episode of the blockbuster Star Wars movie series, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens getting its press screening on Tuesday evening

Indah Setiawati (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, December 16, 2015 Published on Dec. 16, 2015 Published on 2015-12-16T18:27:19+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

D

ie-hard followers of the Dark Side and the Force are getting ready to flock to cinemas in the city to watch the much-anticipated seventh episode of the blockbuster Star Wars movie series, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens getting its press screening on Tuesday evening.

'€œI am really looking forward to it. We are preparing our costumes for the event tonight,'€ Rieke Tjandra Gunawan, a member of the Fightsaber Indonesia community, which stages fight performances using the iconic lightsaber, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

She said her community planned to enliven the first official public screening in cinemas and had prepared a number of surprises for fans. The XXI Cinema movie theater chain posted on its Twitter account that the first public screening would be held on Friday.

Rieke, a self-confessed dark Jedi who role-plays Lenora Shadoe when she becomes a Jedi and Darth Mader when she turns into a Sith, said every detail in the movie would be important to loyal fans.

'€œStar Wars is not just a film for us. It'€™s a way of life,'€ she said.

She said she would focus her attention on the martial arts and the use of the lightsabers in the movie, which involves three Indonesian actors '€” Yayan Ruhian, Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman.

'€œPak Yayan is a practitioner of pencak silat, a traditional martial art originating in Indonesia. We want to see how the pencak silat is performed in the movie. Action parts that may not ring a bell for other moviegoers will be a hot topic among us,'€ she said.

Star Wars fans across the country have long been preparing themselves to welcome the latest movie, the sixth episode of which, Revenge of the Sith, was released a decade ago.

Riza Satyagraha, a co-founder of Indonesia'€™s first Star Wars community, Order 66 SITH (the Star Wars Indonesian Troopers Homebase), said his community would watch the movie together at an event at Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta on Saturday, expecting to be joined by some 500 fans.

'€œAs many as 350 people have registered as participants in our event in our Whatsapp group alone. We will fill the quota by opening registration on our Facebook account,'€ he said over the phone late on Sunday.

He said around 100 members of the 7-year-old community would entertain the fans by wearing their own costumes depicting characters of the space saga franchise. He said the event would also feature some local celebrities who love Star Wars, which has deeply influenced popular culture since it was created by George Lucas in 1977.

'€œWe will rock the event with our costumes. We may need to hold a second event if we see a long waiting list on our social media page,'€ Riza said.

Early this month, the Order 66 Indonesia Facebook group, which is followed by some 3,000 people, posted information on viewing events, including screenings of the previous six episodes, in Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Yogyakarta.

Another Star Wars fan community, Jakarta Saber, also known as JakSaber, is planning an event in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall on Sunday. The community, which focuses on the fights, announced the event, called '€œThe Force Weekend'€, on its Facebook page, Jakarta Saber.

'€œWe will also hold a movie talk to discuss the film together with other fans. There will be a person who will act to be Darth Vader and the fans can ask him anything,'€ said Dwiki Mahendra, who has been with the community for three years.

May the Force be with the fans who expect to see their questions answered in the seventh Star Wars movie.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.