Private Project

Tuyul: Part 1

TUYUL (Toyol in English) tells a reimagined story about the Indonesian urban mythical spirit. Husband and Wife, Daniel (Gandhi Fernando) and Mia (Dinda Kanya Dewi) moves to an old house given by Mia's mother after she passed away. Daniel is the one that insists they move to her old house to saves up some money before the birth of their first born while he'll be working on his job at a tea plantation project. After cleaning up one of the rooms, Daniel finds a bottle hidden mysteriously underneath the broken wooden floor. The empty bottle might be a home to a scary creature that could potentially put Daniel, Mia, and their unborn child in danger.

  • Billy Christian
    Director
  • Luvie Melati
    Writer
  • Billy Christian
    Writer
  • Gandhi Fernando
    Writer
  • Gandhi Fernando
    Producer
  • Laura Karina
    Producer
  • Gandhi Fernando
    Key Cast
  • Dinda Kanya Dewi
    Key Cast
  • Citra Prima
    Key Cast
  • Ingrid Widjanarko
    Key Cast
  • Karina Nadila
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Horror
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 1, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    120,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Indonesia
  • Country of Filming:
    Indonesia
  • Language:
    Indonesian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Billy Christian

BILLY CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY

Billy Christian born 9 December 1983. He grew up with comic books, video games and animations. Billy’s interest in filmmaking start when he was 15 years old. He started to make short films and won some awards in local short film festivals in his young age. He entered Jakarta Institute of the Arts at 2002 and received full scholarship until he graduated in majoring film directing. He has worked as assistant director for several Indonesian directors and storyboard artist when he was in college. He learned more knowledge of filmmaking from being assistant directors.

At 2004, his short film “Dear My Daughter” screened in 9th Busan International Film Festival. Billy’s first debut in big screen is an omnibus horror movie titled “Hi5teria”, that is also screened in 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) 2012. At the same year Billy Christian’s feature film “Blue Blood” project won IT PROJECT from Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF). The “Blue Blood” film project aims to introduce local myth to the international world, and to show the next generation about preserve the local culture into something interesting.

Billy directed and write more local feature films; LGBT drama omnibus “Sanubari Jakarta” (2012), action comedy “The Legend of Trio Macan” (2014), teen drama “Sophie’s 7 Secret Missions” (2014), an Indonesian myth horror “Tuyul part 1” (2015) and first Indonesian zombie flick “Zombie Village” (2015). Now he is making his sci-fi adventure feature film. Beside making feature films, Billy also works in film for television in Indonesia and some tv commercials.

FEATURE FILM FILMOGRAPHY

Hi5teria 2012
Sanubari Jakarta 2012
The Legend of Trio Macan 2014
7 Misi Rahasia Sophie 2014
Tuyul part 1 2015
Kampung Zombie 2015

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SHORT FILM FILMOGRAPHY

Killer (short film) 1999
Portrait (short film) 2000
Sebuah Kisah (short film) 2001
Terrorisinema (short film) 2002
Candle’s Symphony (short film) 2002
Dear My Daughter (short film) 2003
The Window (short film) 2003
Dear My Lover (short film) 2004
Friends (short film) 2004
My Beautiful Queer (short film) 2004
A Long Stick Waffle between Two Cherries (short film) 2005
A Very Long Silence of A Fish (short film) 2006
Raskolnikov, The Murder, After The Murder (short film) 2006
Sang Badut dan Seorang Pengantin (short film) 2009
Bye Lulla Lullaby (short film) 2009
Dunia Sempit (short film) 2010

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FILM FOR TELEVISION FILMOGRAPHY

FTV Sinema Romantis RCTI “ Sumi Benci Bule” 2008
FTV Sinema Romantis RCTI “Bule Versus Jawa” 2008
FTV Bioskop Indonesia Transtv 15cm 2013
FTV Bioskop Indonesia Transtv Karantina 2013 2013
FTV Bioskop Indonesia Transtv Sleepwalker 2013
FTV Bioskop Indonesia Transtv Jangan Ambil Anakku 2013
FTV Sinema Trans7 Bakso Si Lukman
FTV Sinema Trans7 Hantu Penglaris
FTV Sinema Trans7 Misteri Hotel Melati
FTV Sinema Trans7 Inikah Rasanya CInta Mati
FTV MNC Janji Untuk Juli
FTV MNC Pacar Rasa Kaki Lima
FTV MNC The Bodyguard

SHORT FILM AWARDS

Killer 1999 A short film - video8
Director, Cameraman, Editor
*Screened at Festival Film Video Independen Indonesia 1999

Portrait 2000 A short film - digital8
Director, Cameraman, Editor, Storyboard
* Audience Favorite Movie Award at Festival Film Video Independen Indonesia 2000
* Special mention- Kuldesak Award ‘Best Horror film’ at Festival Film Video Independen Indonesia 2000
* Screened at Festival Film Garin Nugroho, Bogor

Sebuah Kisah 2002 A short film - digital8
Director, Writer, Cameraman, Editor, Storyboard, Actor
* Special mention- Kuldesak Award at Festival Film Video Independen 2002

Terrorisinema 2002 A short film - mini dv
Director, Writer, Cameraman, Editor, Storyboard, Actor
* Screened at Jakarta International Film Festival 2002
* Screened at Dresden Film Festival 2005, Germany
Screened at Jakarta 32 degrees, Art Exhibition 2006

Dear My Daughter 2003 A short film - digital8
Director, Writer, Storyboard, Editor
* Representing Indonesia in
Pusan International Film Festival 2004 Korea
* Jakarta Q-film Festival 2004 , Jakarta
Runner Up Festival Film Penyutradaraan Institut Kesenian Jakarta

Sang Badut dan Seorang Pengantin 2009
A short fim – Digital Betacam/ Director, Writer, Producer

* Best technique short film in Ganesha Film Festival 2010
* Screened at Q Film Festival 2010
* Terasinema, screening at Teraskota mall BSD 2011
* Zagreb International Film Festival 2011
Mumbay GLBT International Film Festival. 2011

Bye Lulla Lullaby 2009 A short film – EX3. Director, Writer.

*Screened at Q Film Festival 2010
Terasinema, screening at Teraskota, BSD. 2011

Dunia Sempit 2010-2011
A short film with Biore &Squarebox films
Director, Co-writer

* Terasinema, screening at Teraskota mall BSD 2011
*Screen Asia Africa Film Festival 2011
*Screen in Boemboe Forum 2011

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

What is Tuyul? Tuyul is an Indonesian ghost in the form of baby like creature with bald big head, big eyes, dan love to steal money and other precious thing. This creature can be evoked to work with a human under its own terms. A Tuyul is like an animal, so it needs to be treated. In order to foster a closer relationship with this creature, the owner need to give offering to Tuyul such as toys, sweets, breast feeding even blood.

Tuyul part 1 is my 5th film, before Tuyul part 1 I made Hi5teria, Sanubari Jakarta, The Legend of Trio Macan and Sophie 7 Secret Mission ( 7 Misi Rahasia Sophie ). For me making horror film has its own excitement rather than other genre. Indonesian horror film always made the same ghost such Kuntilanak, Pocong, ghost of a nurse. Tuyul is special, it never been made as the main ghost. Never been attract Indonesian filmmaker, so this is special to me because i give something different to the audience.

Tuyul part 1 is the first film from a trilogy. The big theme to open the trilogy is about motherhood. Pregnant woman, womb, and preparing to be a mother is the right thing to be put on the begining. a birth, as starting point. Psychological approach become the based for Tuyul part 1. As we only had 4 main characters it is good because i can concentrate on these characters. The mother as the main character has weird connection with the tuyul, she sees Tuyul as her form of fear of having trauma in the past of her mother. She’s afraid she cannot be perfect parent for her child, as she feel abandoned and not cared by her mother.

I want to give something that is so close to everyone, something universal. And due to our Indonesian Culture, having a baby is something related to the mystical that we have to protect the baby from evil force in the outside world of the baby. We have to protect the baby so Indonesian women often believe that they need to carry sharp things in order to keep the ghost away from the womb.

The challenge for this movie is to design the Tuyul creature. I made the design based on the description from a paranormal friend named Citra Prima, who can see ghosts, including Tuyul. So she describe how tuyul looked like and also their behaviour. Based on what she said, and what i imagined, I started to sketch my very own Tuyul. I have made several design but we have to applicate the design to the little actor’s body effectivity so that the little actor could walk freely and found no difficulties to explore being a Tuyul. Each design has its on plus and minus, but we manage to bring the best one to bring the terror. We shoot on real set, on the real house on the mountain, which actually real haunted. We hear voices while we shoot, but I think thats quiet good because it give the scary atmosphere when we shoot.

For me the most important thing as young filmmaker is we can bring something cultural but with pop approach. What worries me is that the new generation tend to forget or not care their culture. meanwhile Indonesia has rich potential culture, stories, creatures that is so interesting to be explored. It is my dream to make a movie which can be popular for young generation but also preserve the Indonesian culture. Something cultural not have to be a arthouse or ‘heavy’ kind of movie, but it matter how you represent it to the audience.