Private Project

TAMU (The Guests)

As an example of the success Indonesian diaspora, a group of film students come to make a short documentary about Novi, an Indonesian woman who is married to an American man and opens a small batik shop in downtown Buffalo, NY. At the same time, two Indonesian women come to the shop and interrupted the film shoot. Things turn sour when prejudices are slowly revealed.

  • Azalia Muchransyah
    Director
    Halal (2017), HIV/AIDS: Not A Death Sentence (2018), Alone, Together (2018), Blue Film (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018), Where Do Babies Come From? (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Azalia Muchransyah
    Writer
    Halal (2017), HIV/AIDS: Not A Death Sentence (2018), Alone, Together (2018), Blue Film (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018), Where Do Babies Come From? (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Azalia Muchransyah
    Producer
    Halal (2017), HIV/AIDS: Not A Death Sentence (2018), Alone, Together (2018), Blue Film (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018), Where Do Babies Come From? (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Adhi Anugroho
    Producer
    Halal (2017), HIV/AIDS: Not A Death Sentence (2018), Alone, Together (2018), Blue Film (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018), Where Do Babies Come From? (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Azalia Muchransyah
    Key Cast
    "Director"
    Halal (2017), Alone, Together (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018)
  • Novi Paluch
    Key Cast
    "Novi"
  • Amelia Sunyoto
    Key Cast
    "Amelia"
  • Alexa Rusin
    Key Cast
    "Alexa"
  • Jesse Robson
    Key Cast
    "Soundman"
  • Adhi Anugroho
    Key Cast
    "Producer"
  • Beau Blumenthal
    Camera Operators
  • Rutuja Sawant
    Camera Operators
  • Hatim Mohammed
    Camera Operators
  • Jesse Robson
    Camera Operators
  • Alexa Rusin
    Camera Operators
  • Jesse Robson
    Sound Recordist
  • Jefry Taveras
    Gaffer
  • Adhi Anugroho
    Clapper Loader
  • Hatim Mohammed
    Post Production Synchronization
  • Azalia Muchransyah
    Editor
    Halal (2017), HIV/AIDS: Not A Death Sentence (2018), Alone, Together (2018), Blue Film (2018), Big Durian Big Apple (2018), Where Do Babies Come From? (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Adhi Anugroho
    Music Composer
    Blue Film (2018), The Banana Manifesto (2018)
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student, Other
  • Genres:
    Drama, Hybrid, Mockumentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 12, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Indonesia
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Indonesian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • DMS MEDIA SHOW 2019
    Buffalo
    United States
    May 13, 2019
    School Screening
    WINNER OF AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST GRADUATE FILM
  • Buffalo Infringement Festival 2019
    Buffalo, New York
    United States
    July 27, 2019
    Official Selection
  • The MIGC 2019: Artifice Creative Showcase at Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference (MIGC)
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    United States
    February 15, 2019
    Academic Conference
    Official Selection
  • Southeast Asia and The Diaspora: Gender, Labor, and Performance, 1st Annual SEASGRAD Conference, University of California, Riverside
    Riverside, California
    United States
    May 10, 2019
    Academic Conference
    Official Selection
  • 73rd Annual University Film & Video Association (UFVA) Conference 2019
    Minneapolis
    United States
    July 30, 2019
    Academic Conference
    Official Selection
  • Squeaky Wheel The Big Picture: Members Community Screening
    Buffalo
    United States
    February 2, 2019
    Private Screening
    Official Selection
  • DMS Undergraduate and Graduate Students Holidaze Screenings
    Buffalo
    United States
    December 12, 2018
    School Screening
    Official Selection
  • PLASMA 2019: Performances, Lectures & Screenings in Media Arts
    Buffalo
    United States
    February 4, 2019
    School Screening
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Azalia Muchransyah

Azalia Muchransyah is pursuing a Ph.D. in Media Study at University at Buffalo (SUNY). She is a recipient of 2017 DIKTI-Funded Fulbright Ph.D. Scholarship. Her area of interest is advocacy media, specifically AIDS Media in Indonesia. Her short films have been officially selected and screened in international festivals and academic conferences. In 2019, she is chosen as a Social Impact Fellow at University at Buffalo as well as a Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) Diversity Scholar at Ithaca College. She is also a contributor for vcinemashow.com, an online platform for Asian film, media, and culture. To know more about her works, visit https://azalia.myportfolio.com/.

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Director Statement

“A hybrid of documentary and fiction, TAMU uses several different cameras with different visual languages for each layer to capture a meta-filmmaking experience. This film challenges the extensions and reversals of what filmmaking is, as well as the explosion and implosion of what is real and what is fiction.”

The story of TAMU comes to me as I talked to Novi Paluch, the owner of Sasmita Indonesian Batik store, in one of our mutual friend’s gathering. She told a story of how people from Indonesia sometimes come to stay at her place, free of charge, yet still talk about her in an obnoxious yet oblivious manner. As an Indonesia living in the USA, I encounter the same thing over and over again, as people sometimes throw silly questions and statements at me, such as, “Is your husband an American?” or “Do you go to Harvard?” or even “You must be visiting Disneyland every day!” But then I realize, as I discuss about this with my Indonesian husband who live here with me, that even though I don’t say it in front of their face, I also have judgements and prejudices towards people, both Indonesians and others. This is why I start developing the idea for TAMU, involving my husband as my creative counterpart. After I pitched the story to my Professor, she asks me to develop the story even further, confronting not only Novi’s experiences, but also mine. As Novi agreed to get involved in the project, I start to prepare for the shoot and recruit my casts and crew. Even though a lot of people think that it is such an ambitious idea to use seven cameras to create four camera modes—which represent different aspect of how camera functions in our everyday lives, from filmmaking, documentation, selfie, and surveillances—I am fortunate to have such a solid team and we pulled it off with just one day of shooting. I hope this short film can be relatable for women and men, young and old, Indonesians and beyond.