Experiencing Interruptions?

Last May in Theaters

Jakarta and Gwangju are two significant cities that sparked the birth of democracy in Indonesia and South Korea, toppling dictators through people's power in May 1998 and 1980. This work tells the story of the daily lives of two ticketing cinema staff during those May incidents. They never experienced it directly or went onto the streets to face the soldiers, yet the stories they heard and the voices that reached them felt like an endless war film replaying in their minds. This film is also woven from fragments of memories of people living around Jakarta and Gwangju and represented through found footage, film clips, and significant cinematic events that occurred in the same month.

  • Arief Budiman
    Director
  • Arief Budiman
    Writer
  • Rugun Sirait
    Producer
  • Eunha Lee
    Producer
  • Irwan Diansyah
    Key Cast
  • Chan Kook
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    History, documentary, experimental, fiction, narrative
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 13, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Indonesia, South Korea
  • Country of Filming:
    Indonesia, South Korea
  • Language:
    Indonesian, Korean
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Visions du Reel
    Nyon
    Switzerland
    April 21, 2026
    Europe premiere
    Short & Mid International Competition
  • Images Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    April 21, 2026
    North American Premiere
    Unstill Image
  • DMZ International Film Festival
    Paju & Goyang
    South Korea
    September 12, 2025
    World Premiere
    Grand Prize Korean Competition Shorts
  • DOXA Documentary Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    May 1, 2026
  • Wuhan bailin Film Festival
    Wuhan
    China
    November 10, 2025
    International Premiere
  • Seoul Independent Film Festival
    Seoul
    South Korea
    November 29, 2025
  • Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival
    Yogyakarta
    Indonesia
    December 3, 2025
    Transcendence
  • Festival Film Dokumenter
    Yogyakarta
    Indonesia
    November 29, 2025
    Indonesian Premiere
    Spektrum
  • Syncro Film Fest
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    June 26, 2026
    Argentina Premiere
    International Competition
  • +RAIN Film Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    June 17, 2026
    Spain Premiere
    International Competition
  • Minikino Film Week
    Denpasar
    Indonesia
    September 18, 2026
Director Biography - Arief Budiman

Arief Budiman is an artist-filmmaker based in Yogyakarta, working with sonic traces, distorted histories, fabricated realities, desktop cinema, collage film, and media installations.

His practice engages with speculative histories, public archives, and collective memory to uncover hidden and erased narratives. Using archives and technology as tools, he opens up alternative ways of reading the past, blending fiction and non-fiction to construct multi-layered narratives that function as alternative histories. His works often draw from personal memories, oral histories, and popular culture—such as novels, music, and film. More recently, he has developed methods involving non-human elements to trace histories of violence in Indonesia and across Asia.

His works have received several awards, including the Grand Prize for Short Competition at DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (2025), Best Short Documentary at the Indonesian Film Festival (2023), and the Julius Baer – Next Generation Art Prize in the Moving Image category (2021). He is a recipient of the SGIFF SEA-Shorts Grant (2025), and his short documentary received the Sharjah Art Foundation – Short Film Production Grant (2023). He is currently a member of two collectives in Yogyakarta, MES 56 and Piring Tirbing.

Selected screenings and exhibitions include International Film Festival Rotterdam, Images Festival (Toronto), DMZ Docs (Gyeonggi), Visions du Reel (Nyon), European Media Art Festival (Osnabruck), Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (Manila), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Gwangju Media Art Platform, Transmediale (Berlin), Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Sharjah Film Platform, Jogja Biennale XVI, ISCP (New York), Gerobak Cinema at Dhaka Art Summit, Arkipel (Jakarta), Kasseler Dokfest, Festival Video NodoCCS (Caracas), etc.

Selected residencies include Treasure Hill Artist Village (Taipei), G.MAP Project Lab Global Residency Program (Gwangju), Koganecho Area Management Center (Yokohama), Art Center Ongoing (Tokyo), MIRO Center (Gwangju), Pekan Kebudayaan Nasional (Kepulauan Seribu), and Jogja Biennale.

https://ariefbudiman.art/

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Director Statement

May 1980 in Gwangju and May 1998 in Jakarta illustrate how military brutality can destroy a society’s freedom. Citizens have the right to criticize government decisions, especially when their leader acts as a dictator. However, what happened instead was violence and repressive actions by the government.

I was not part of these historical events—May 1998 and May 1980 are events I never personally experienced—but their impact still lingers today. Then what about the stories of those in the same place but lacked the chance or ability to join the fight? Are they also considered part of that struggle and that historic moment?

This film is an effort to gather personal memories from those who felt the impact of these events as part of a transnational solidarity between May 1980 and May 1998. The people of Gwangju and Jakarta have proven that through collective strength and solidarity, they could overthrow a corrupt state system and transform it into a democracy. This film serves as a reminder that every person, including workers in the film industry, must take a role in protecting democracy.