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Ucu Agustin: Small but powerful
Courtesy of Ucu Agustin“A petite woman who can pack a fair punch” seems like the best way to describe film director Ucu Agustin, the talented director behind some of Indonesia’s greatest documentaries
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Courtesy of Ucu Agustin
“A petite woman who can pack a fair punch” seems like the best way to describe film director Ucu Agustin, the talented director behind some of Indonesia’s greatest documentaries.
Ucu’s frame may appear small and delicate — she measures 1.55 meters — but her strong mind and soul have led her to produce a number of documentaries with challenging themes.
So far her film projects, which have tackled gender inequality, social injustice and healthcare problems in Indonesia, caught the attention of many film festivals at home and abroad.
The Jakarta Post met Ucu recently on a rainy afternoon, and delved into this director’s life, work and ambitions.
Born in small town in Sukabumi, West Java, Ucu was your typical girl next door, raised with strict religious values. She went to Islamic boarding schools and pursued her secondary studies at the State Islamic University in Jakarta.
She grew into what might be called a “good girl” with strong religious beliefs that convinced her everything surrounding her was a good thing that came from “above”.
Until the day she found out something that changed her world completely.
“When I was still in high school, I discovered many of the women from my hometown had become mistresses. I was so shocked. Having attended an Islamic [boarding] school, I had to face a completely different reality outside,” Ucu shared her first eye-opening experience with the outside world.
From them onwards, she became restless and started questioning everything around her.
“So many small things remained unanswered. I don’t know if it because I felt different. But the smaller questions led to bigger ones,” the ex-journalist said.
Before turning to the audiovisual world, Ucu dabbled in print media as a journalist to channel her restlessness toward social problems.
But somewhere along the line, she discovered that writing for print media had its own limitations.
“Not many media outlets provide enough spaces for human-interest stories that can expose problems in a detailed way,” she said.
Therefore, Ucu decided to turn to film, which according to her is “a further step in journalism”.
Throwing herself fully into this new media to quell her anxiety, Ucu started her first film project in 2005 and delved into an issue affecting everyone in Jakarta: Death.
“Most people believe that as soon as you die, your problems will disappear. I don’t see it like that. You have to deal with papers and burial permits and other small details. From these small questions comes a bigger one: do poor people deserve to die in Jakarta?” she exclaims.
She tackled these questions in her first 28-minute documentary titled Death in Jakarta, which won the best script at the 2005 Jakarta International Film Festival.
Before she knew it, Ucu had fallen in love with that media.
Why documentaries? While most people starting in the film industry begin with fiction, Ucu preferred to do documentaries which are seen as much harder to create.
“The medium is suited to the unresolved issues I want to bring into the public arena,” said Ucu, hoping she can help find solutions by capturing reality through documentaries.
After Death in Jakarta, Ucu produced other documentaries tackling serious issues.
She was brave enough to touch upon legalized prostitution in Tulungagung East Java in her next film Ragate Anak (For The Sake of Children), which is part of a documentary anthology At Stake produced by Kalyana Shira Films.
She discovered that a strong hodgepodge of cultural, religious and social norms had allowed such a practice to exist but in the end jeopardized women’s health as many ended up infected by HIV/AIDS.
In her latest project, Ucu explores the healthcare problems plaguing the country, which is also deemed a difficult topic to tackle in a documentary.
Conspiracy of Silence explores Indonesia’s poor management of health, with no one seemingly capable of turning the situation around as authorities, doctors and health experts are all caught in the system, unable to distance themselves from it and resolve any of its systemic problems.
“Through this movie, I want to tell people to speak up so the public knows this is everybody’s problem,” she said.
Despite her passion for difficulties subjects, Ucu remains a bundle of joy.
Very talkative, the 34-year-old director speaks unbelievably fast, and often makes jokes between comments.
The key to handling such heavy documentaries for her is people.
“Inspiring individuals. I am inspired when looking at the difficult lives these characters have in my movies. I hope the audience will also feel inspired.”
