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A celebration of Benyamin Sueb’s films
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Legendary icon: A man looks at photos of Benyamin Sueb showcased at the Bentara Budaya Jakarta cultural center in Jakarta. (-/A. Kurniawan Ulung)
T
he late Benyamin Sueb is not only a legend to Jakarta’s Betawi people, as he is one of the country’s greatest artists of all time and a legendary cult icon.
Benyamin, as an artist, could do anything. He was an actor, singer, writer, director and producer.
Affectionately known as Bang Ben among his devoted fans, Benyamin would have celebrated his 80th birthday on March 5 this year. Nowadays, most probably know of the late comedian from the performance of actor Reza Rahadian in recent comedy flick Benyamin Biang Kerok (Benyamin the Troublemaker), which was a reimagining of a film by the same name in the 1970s.
Benyamin, who passed away at the age of 56 in 1995, cut his teeth as a multitalented artist. In the Indonesian film industry, he starred in 54 movies, including 10 films in which he was also the producer, director and scriptwriter.
His films were recently screened during an event called Nonton Bioskop: Putar Film Benyamin S (Watching Movies: The Screening of Benyamin S’ films) from March 22 to 24 at the Bentara Budaya Jakarta cultural center in Jakarta.
Two of them were Intan Berduri (Thorny Diamond) and Si Doel Anak Modern (Doel the Modern Man). He won Best Actor at the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) twice in the 1970s for these films.
