🎬 Cinema fiesta from the ASEAN for the Peoples Conference 2025
FPCI leads with film to inspire a new era of regional understanding 🤝✨
The Main Takeaway 🎯🎬
At the heart of the ASEAN for the Peoples Conference 2025 (AFPC2025) 🌏 — hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) 🇮🇩 to celebrate a decade of citizen diplomacy — lies a powerful reminder: cinema can cut through borders, bureaucracy, and language to bring people together 🎞️🤝.
Southeast Asia Stories on Screen, a curated film screening held at The Sultan Hotel & Residence, Jakarta (Oct 4–5) 🏙️, dives into the region’s cultural, political, and environmental realities 🌿⚖️ through six compelling films from across ASEAN.
Indonesia takes center stage 🇮🇩 with The Last Accord: War, Apocalypse, and Peace in Aceh — a documentary chronicling the decades-long armed conflict in Aceh and the historic peace accord that brought it to a close 🕊️.
As the main feature, the film sets the tone for the entire showcase — offering a sobering yet inspiring lens 🎥 through which ASEAN is understood not merely as a bloc, but as a community of people striving for peace, identity, and justice ✨.
The Key Highlights 🎥📜
Country of Origin: 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Film Title: The Last Accord: War, Apocalypse, and Peace in Aceh 🎞️
Organizer: Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) 🌏
Focus: 🕊️ Conflict resolution, peace process, civil rights, decentralization
Format: 📺 Archival documentary + testimonies from survivors and negotiators ✍️
Why It Matters 🌏🎬
In an era when internal conflicts still simmer across parts of Southeast Asia ⚔️, The Last Accord serves as both a mirror and a guide 🪞🕊️.
It reveals how Indonesia, now often regarded as a regional peace broker 🤝, once had to confront its own deep internal wounds 💔.
The film underscores the enduring need for inclusive diplomacy, transitional justice, and sustained reconciliation ⚖️ — values that are not only political but profoundly personal ❤️.
The Big Picture 📽️🌏
Indonesia’s journey from violent conflict in Aceh 💥 to peaceful autonomy 🕊️ reflects ASEAN’s core aspirations — community, stability, and mutual respect 🤝.
The Last Accord delivers a profound message: peace is never imposed from above 🏛️ — it is built from below, through truth-telling, dialogue, and trust 💬✨.
By showcasing this film, FPCI bridges Indonesia’s domestic experiences 🇮🇩 with its foreign policy leadership in the region 🌏 — turning memory into diplomatic insight and art into a tool for peacebuilding 🎞️🤍.
Regional Stakes 🌏⚖️
Diplomatic Legacy 🕊️: Showcases Indonesia’s capability to resolve domestic conflict and mediate international crises, reinforcing its standing as a credible peace broker.
Model for Peace 🤝: Serves as a case study for Myanmar, southern Thailand, and the Philippines — illustrating how nations can transition from war to autonomy.
Soft Power 🎥✨: Positions Indonesia not only as a political leader within ASEAN, but also as a cultural and moral force shaping the region’s collective conscience.
Why This Hits Home ❤️🇮🇩
Aceh’s past is Indonesia’s collective memory 🕊️. For Indonesians, watching The Last Accord is not merely an act of reflection, but a call to responsibility ⚖️.
It challenges us to protect peace, preserve narratives, and ensure that future generations understand — reconciliation is not inevitable, it is a choice 🌿.
For ASEAN citizens, the film becomes a deeply human invitation 🤝 to reimagine diplomacy — not as the domain of elites or treaties 🏛️📜, but as the shared work of people and communities 🌏💬.
The Regional Thread: Five Films, One Region, Shared Struggles 🎬🌏
Supporting The Last Accord are five films from fellow ASEAN nations 🇹🇭🇲🇾🇻🇳🇵🇭🇰🇭 — each offering unique perspectives on displacement, injustice, climate anxiety, and the pursuit of dignity 🌱⚖️.
Together, these stories weave a regional tapestry of voices demanding to be heard 🎞️🗣️ — reminding us that Southeast Asia’s unity is built not only through policy, but through shared pain, resilience, and hope 🤝✨.
✍️ Found Objects, Freed Stories (The Philippines)
This reflective documentary delves into identity and memory through rediscovered artefacts 🪶 and oral histories 🗣️ from communities across the Philippines.
Much like The Last Accord, it poses a profound question: Who gets to write history — and what happens when the silenced begin to speak? 📖✨
🌾 The Girl from Dak Lak (Vietnam)
A coming-of-age story that follows a rural girl’s journey from the rice fields to the industrial sprawl of Ho Chi Minh City 🏙️.
Echoing Aceh’s post-conflict realities, it asks: what is lost in the name of progress — and at what cost? ⚙️💔
🌊 The Tides Will Decide (Malaysia)
Centered on environmental collapse and its toll on coastal communities 🌊🏝️, this Malaysian film reflects Indonesia’s own climate vulnerabilities 🌦️.
It highlights the urgency of regional collaboration in disaster response 🤝 — as climate change becomes the next frontier of human insecurity 🌍⚠️.
📖 A Silent Page (Myanmar)
Told through the journey of a deaf girl pursuing education in a neglected village 🏫, this film confronts themes of systemic exclusion and quiet perseverance 💪.
Much like post-conflict Aceh, it reveals that resilience often grows in silence 🌱 — and that inclusion itself is a peace strategy 🕊️.
🏙 Last Night I Saw You Smiling (Cambodia)
An intimate portrayal of a family’s eviction from Phnom Penh’s iconic White Building 🏚️, this film captures the emotional toll of forced modernization 💔.
Echoing Indonesia’s own urban displacements, it makes the story both painfully familiar and regionally resonant 🌏 — a reminder that development without dignity costs too much 🏗️⚖️.
Beyond the Headlines 🎬🌏
Too often, ASEAN narratives are flattened into numbers — growth rates, trade volumes, and summit communiqués 📈🏛️. Southeast Asia Stories on Screen reclaims the human side of policy ❤️.
With The Last Accord leading the lineup 🎥, this screening affirms that cinema is not just art — it is foreign policy in motion 🌍🎞️.
Through these films, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) signals that diplomacy must listen 👂 — to survivors, migrants, youth, and artists 🕊️👥.
AFPC2025 reminds us that Southeast Asia’s true power lies not only in economic potential or strategic geography, but in the shared experience of rebuilding from the ruins of war, poverty, and silence 🕊️🌱.
(ZIL/QOB)
 |
|