Award-winning Indonesian author Eka Kurniawan and filmmaker Wregas Bhanuteja have teamed up to turn the former’s short story Tak Ada yang Gila di Kota Ini (No One is Crazy in This Town) into a short film.

Wregas said he once harbored hopes of turning Eka’s horror short story Jimat Sero (Talisman) into a movie.

Jimat Sero — which tells a tale of a boy who gets a talisman from his friend to protect him from being bullied at school — is one of Wregas’ favorite short stories in the anthology Kumpulan Budak Setan (Devil’s Slaves Club).

Wregas, however, had to let this hope fade away after the short story, which Eka wrote nine years ago, got the big screen treatment from veteran director Harry Dagoe in a film titled Sunya, back in 2016.

“I have read all of Eka’s short stories. One day, I told myself I had to make a movie adaption of his books,” Wregas said during a discussion at the recent Indonesia International Book Fair in Jakarta.

Wregas was thrilled when he finally got what he wanted this year — an offer to turn another of Eka’s short stories into a film. “I immediately answered yes,” he said.

Tak Ada yang Gila di Kota Ini is part of Eka’s anthology Cinta Tak Ada Mati (Love Knows No End), which publisher Gramedia Pustaka Utama rereleased with a new cover in April this year.

The 25-year-old filmmaker from Yogyakarta and the 42-year-old author from Tasikmalaya, West Java, are both history makers in the country.

Wregas is the first-ever Indonesian to win an award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival for his short film Prenjak/In The Year of Monkey in 2016.

Meanwhile, Eka, who has published four novels and five anthologies, became the first Indonesian to be longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 for his novel Lelaki Harimau (Man Tiger).

Deemed Indonesia’s finest writer since Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Eka, whose work has been translated into 35 languages, was also named the 2018 Prince Claus laureate for his work that “examines controversial issues in a way that people can relate to helping them to reclaim stories of their past and construct a better understanding of the country”.

His short story Tak Ada yang Gila di Kota Ini tells a story about people with mental illnesses who are caught and taken to a jungle to be left alone for the sake of “mentally heathy” people’s convenience in a city.

“Before I wrote this story, I had seen how mentally ill people at [bus] terminals and traditional markets were caught and then forced into pickup trucks. They were taken into the jungle and then left there,” Eka said.

For Wregas, Tak Ada yang Gila di Kota Ini reflected his anxiety about what was happening in the country today: the abuse of power.

He said the mentally unhealthy people in the story represented powerless people who could not attain freedom, and that discarding them in the jungle was a form of oppression by people in power.

The power of Eka’s story, Wregas said, was in the words the author strung together — they were so visual that readers could feel the emotion of every character in it.

Eka, who confessed to being a fan of Wregas’s work, especially the award-winning Prenjak, said he was relieved when he was informed that Wregas would be the director and scriptwriter for the Tak Ada Yang Gila di Kota Ini movie adaptation.

“When I heard his name [to helm the film], I thought no discussions on [the book-to-film adaptation] were necessary because I already trusted him. The result will be exactly what I imagined or maybe even better than what I could imagine,” he said.

Eka himself is currently busy writing a script for a movie adaptation of his third novel, Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas (Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash), with Edwin, who won best director at the 2017 Indonesian Film Festival for his love flick Posesif (Possessive).

Eka understands that adapting a book to the big screen is not an easy task.

Hanung Bramantyo’s film, Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love), an adaptation of a Habiburrahman El Shirazy novel of the same title, enjoyed success in theaters but was strongly criticized by many, especially its readers.

The movie adaptation of Indonesia’s literary giant Pramoedya’s masterpiece Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) has yet to hit theaters but has been widely criticized by the author’s fans, who fear the film’s director, Hanung, will ruin the original story.

Eka, however, said he always gave filmmakers free reign to interpret and visualize his stories, and did not feel burdened by his readers’ reactions to his books’ adaptations.

Wregas said the way he interpreted Tak Ada Yang Gila di Kota Ini would lead him to make some changes that may surprise readers as they would not find them in the original story.

Eka is aware of the changes but does not mind, and said he preferred to wait for what surprises the director had in store.  

Wregas and 40 crew members, including 12 main and supporting actors, will start filming in Bantul and Gunung Kidul regencies in Yogyakarta from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18. The film, expected to be completed by January next year, will be screened for the public and at film festivals at home and abroad.

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