Mouly Surya'€™s What They Don'€™t Talk About When They Talk About Love swept the Jati Emas awards given by the 2014 Indonesian Film Academy on Monday.

The film, which made its bow at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, won the best movie, best director and best screenwriting awards at the event'€™s second iteration, which was held at Bentara Budaya Jakarta in West Jakarta.

Directed and written by Mouly, What They Don'€™t Talk About'€¦ tells the story of young women who see their physical limitations as gifts that will lead them to find their loved ones.

One academy member, movie producer Mira Lesmana, said that the film deserved to win, thanks to its originality and outstanding artistic point of view.

'€œThe story is original but it has a very deep understanding about life. Mouly was so good at directing this movie,'€ Mira said after the event. '€œIt'€™s a complete artistic movie.'€

Fauzan Zidni, one of the film'€™s producers, said the movie had been carefully made over a period of four years.

How sweet it is: Faudan Zidni from What They Don'€™t Talk About... holds the awards given to the film by the Indonesian Film Academy. JP/Nurhayati

'€œIt'€™s an honor for us to win in all categories. And on behalf of Mouly, who can'€™t be here because she'€™s in Paris, I thank you all again,'€ he said.

The academy also acknowleged Tenggelamnya Kapal Van der Wijck (The Sinking of the Van der Wijck), produced by Soraya Intercine Films, as the most popular local film at the box office for 2013 with a total of 1.72 million viewers, surpassing 99 Cahaya di Langit Eropa (99 Lights in the European Sky) with 1.18 million viewers and Soekarno with 940,000 viewers.

The producer of Tenggelamnya, Raam Soraya, said that a good story had been at the heart of the film'€™s success. '€œWe always pick a story that can be enjoyed by the viewers, and then turn it into an as interesting as possible movie without losing its actual feeling.'€

Mira, who made the announcement, said the number of people who viewed local films in 2013 was the lowest in five years, based on statistics compiled by filmindonesia.or.id.

According to the academy, 93 local films were released in 2013, directed by 116 filmmakers, including 66 debut directors.

The Indonesian Film Academy awards were conceived as an alternative to the government-sponsored awards given by the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) and the Indonesian Film Appreciation (AFI) group.

In 2007, controversy over the FFI'€™s recognition of Ekskul as best picture, despite copyright infringement, lackluster reviews and mediocre box office business, prompted several previous FFI winners, including noted directors Riri Riza and Hanung Bramantyo, to return their awards.

The academy, established in 2013, currently has 30 members, including actor Lukman Sardi, director Paul Agusta, screenwriter Salman Aristo, movie critic Hikmat Darmawan, cinematographer Yadi Sugandi, film editor Sastha Sunu and music arranger Zeke Khaseli.

One member, film critic Totot Indarto, said that the academy used quantitative and qualitative procedures to select the winners. In the first phase, the academy'€™s editorial board members made a list of recommended movies, which could be supplemented by suggestions from other members, provided they were not connected to the films.

In the second phase, 18 films that made the cut were winnowed down to five films, based on the individual choices of each academy member.

Finally, members determined the winners through voting.