Award-winning: Actress Marsha Timothy in a scene from Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts.(marlinathemurderer.com)

The independent Indonesian film industry has once again proved its worth overseas as actress Marsha Timothy has won the Best Actress award at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

The festival, held from Oct. 5 to 15, bestowed the award on Marsha this week for her lead role in the film Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, directed by Mouly Surya. Mouly’s film Marlina had already received acclaim from overseas viewers and critics, particularly after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Marlina was only the third-ever Indonesian film to be screened at Cannes.

Marsha beat internationally acclaimed actresses such as Nicole Kidman, Masami Nagasawa and Monika Balsai for the Sitges award. She joins the prestigious list of other Sitges Best Actress winners such as Julianne Moore, Lee Young-ae, Reese Witherspoon and Bridget Fonda.

“It is an honor to receive this award. I never thought that my role as Marlina would receive the recognition of judges at such an important festival as Sitges,” Marsha said in a statement on Monday.

Director Mouly accepted the award on her behalf as the actress is shooting her upcoming film, Wiro Sableng 212, a silver-screen remake of the cult Indonesian fantasy television series.

Aside from Cannes, Marlina was screened in other international film festivals this year such as the Melbourne International Film Festival as well as the Toronto International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. At Sitges, which has been running since 1968 and mainly specializes in fantasy, sci-fi, thriller and horror films, Marlina also received a Special Mention in the Focus Asia category.

Thirty-four films were screened and competed against each other at the festival, including Blade of the Immortal by Japanese thriller legend Takashi Miike, The Killing of a Sacred Deer by Yorgos Lanthimos and Before We Vanish by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Marsha plays the title role in Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, which tells the story of a broken housewife setting out on a quest driven by revenge against those who robbed and abused her following the death of her husband. She shares the screen with Egi Fedly, Yoga Pratama and Dea Panendra.

Despite the film achieving foreign acclaim, it has yet to be screened in its home country. Indonesian audiences will only be able to watch the film in local theaters when it premieres on Nov. 16.

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