Women Rote From Island has been selected to represent Indonesia at the 97th Academy Awards or the Oscar 2025. The work of director Jeremias Nyangoen will compete in the International Feature Film Award category.
The movie was selected through a rigorous selection process. If it gets nominated, Women From Rote Island will get more attention at the 2025 Oscars.
1. Woman From Rote Island Officially Represents Indonesia at the 97th Oscars
Studio Bintang Cahaya Sinema also announced the information on their social media accounts, accompanied by an official letter from the Indonesian Oscar Selection Committee dated September 17, 2024.
Before finally choosing Women from Rote Island, there were 16 other Indonesian film titles that applied and underwent a selection process by a committee formed by the Indonesian Film Company Association (PPFI) and accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
The committee consists of Deddy Mizwar, Cesa David Lukmansyah, Edwin Nazir, Garin Nugroho, Ilham Bintang, Ratna Riantiarno, Slamet Rahardjo, Thoersi Argeswara, and Widyawati.
The Indonesian Oscar Committee has previously announced an open registration for films that wish to participate in the selection from August 1 to 31, 2024.
The selection process will take place from September 4 to 17, 2024, and on September 18, 2024, they will determine the selected films. Furthermore, on October 2, 2024, the Indonesian Oscar Committee will send the materials to the Oscars.
2. Competing with Feature Films from Other Countries
The Academy Awards for the International Feature Film category are given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They give this award to films that are not from the United States and do not use English in the dialog.
This category has been around since the 1956 Academy Awards. For this year, the submitted film must have hit theaters in its country of origin between November 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.
In this category, Women From Rote Island will compete with a number of other feature-length films from various countries. These include Under The Volcano (Poland), Saturn Return (Spain), Family Time (Finland), In Her Place (Chile), Meeting with Pol Pot (Cambodia), Cloud (Japan), and 12.12: The Day (South Korea).
Women from Rote Island is Indonesia’s 26th film to compete in the category since the country first participated in 1987.
Despite sending 26 films, Indonesia has never made it to the list of nominees for the category previously known as Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2020, Indonesia chose Joko Anwar’s Perempuan Tanah Jahanam. Then, in 2021, Kamila Andini’s Yuni. Next, in 2022, Bene Dion’s Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap. Finally, in 2023, Makbul Mubarak’s Autobiography.
The 97th Academy Awards will take place on March 2, 2025. The prestigious film awards will be broadcast live from the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood, United States.
3. Women From Rote Island Synopsis
The movie Women from Rote Island tells the story of a grieving family in Rote, East Nusa Tenggara. Orpa (Merlinda Dessy Adoe) is now a single mother to three daughters after her husband Abram passed away.
The return of Orpa’s eldest daughter, Martha (Irma Novita Rihi), after working as a migrant worker in Malaysia, was very sad. This is because Martha had been a victim of sexual violence during her time there.
Martha suffered even more as she was sexually assaulted in her home village. Orpa and her family are also discriminated against, so they have to fight for justice.
Prior to its release in Indonesia, Women from Rote Island has screened at various international film festivals. These include Busan International Film Festival 2023, Asian Film Festival Barcelona 2023, and QCinema International Film Festival 2023 in the Philippines.
