CNYPG welcomes filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich
with his films PROMISED PARADISE (2006)
THE SHAPE OF THE MOON (2005)
and THE EYE OF THE DAY (2001).

April 11 - 24, 2008

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, Friday, April 11
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, Saturday, April 12
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, Sunday, April 13
Utica College, Utica, NY, Monday, April 14
Crandall Library, Glens Falls, NY, Tuesday, April 15
Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, Wednesday, April 16
Cornell Cinema , Ithaca, NY, Thursday, April 17
Cornell Cinema , Ithaca, NY, Friday, April 18
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, Sunday, April 20
Cinema 10, Potsdam, NY, Monday, April 21
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, Tuesday, April 22
Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, Wednesday, April 23
MWPAI, Utica, NY, Thursday, April 24


Banned in Indonesia, Promised Paradise (2006, 52 minutes) follows the quest of an Indonesian puppeteer to meet three men convicted of the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali. Along the way, director Leonard Retel Helmrich shows the puppeteer’s unique method of exploring the issue of terrorism through puppet shows, featuring – among other things – a dancing Osama Bin Laden doll and a shadow-play attack on the World Trade Center.

In a suburb in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the largest Muslim community of the world, encased in a cardboard television set, troubadour Agus re-enacts the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York in front of a public of children, using the packaging of a toy featuring the Word Trade Centre and a weird looking fish-plane. "Everything you see on your television is a lie: in this cardboard television the people are made of flesh and blood," he explains. Looking for answers, Agus tries to encounter terrorist Imam Samudra, the organizer of the 2002 discotheque bombing in Bali, in his cell in order to better corner him. He even consults a paranormal medium to enter in contact with one of the suicide bombers who died during the attack, and ask him if he regrets his act. Promised Paradise confronts reality to theatrical performances through scenes inspired by acts of violence that shatter the country and the confusions that plague Indonesian society.

The Eye of the Day (2001, 92 minutes)
In 1998 a deep political and economic crisis forced President Suharto to resign after 32 years in power. This was the beginning of the tumultuous period known in Indonesia as the Reformasi. With a population of 200 million, Indonesia has seen ongoing political change, accompanied by protests, poverty and general insecurity. The Eye of the Day documents these conflicts as they play out in the lives of sixty-year-old Rumijah, her two sons Bakti and Dwi, and her friend Ibu Sum. In the cinéma vérité tradition, filmmaker Helmrich creates this cinematographic feast for the eyes while capturing the trials and tribulations of everyday life in Indonesia today. While filming a demonstration in 1995, Helmrich was arrested and jailed as a suspected spy, then declared persona non grata. He was not able to return to Indonesia until 1997 - that same year he began following Rumijah and her family with his camera.

The Shape of the Moon (2005, 92 minutes)
In this vivid follow up to The Eye of the Day, director Leonard Retel Helmrich again visits Indonesia through three generations of the Sjamsuddin family. Rumidjah, a 62 year-old Catholic widow, lives in a working-class district of Jakarta, with her son Bakti, a new Muslim convert, and her granddaughter Tari. Since the fall of Suharto, she has witnessed the country pass through a period of socio-political chaos. Islam, Indonesia's largest religion, is trying to maintain order and discipline, while becoming increasingly fundamentalist in its tone. These changes and conflicts with her son make Rumidjah long for life in the simple country village of her birth. Mother and son’s good-natured quarrels take place against the background of anti-US demonstrations and an Islamic neighborhood watch. In this way the film continually connects small issues with large ones. There are no interviews, no voice-over. Shape of the Moon offers the kind of cinema vérite where the camera moves intuitively along with the action. Joris Ivens Award, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam; Grand Prize, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival.

Director Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch/Indonesian filmmaker who worked as a drama director and cameraman in the Netherlands before going to Indonesia to make a series of documentaries that have won awards world wide. Leonard developed a theoretical perspective for his work as well as a practical technique for an approach that he calls 'single shot cinema', involving long takes with a constantly moving camera. He has also designed a special camera mount that allows extraordinary stability and maneuverability in shooting called "Steadywings". Having spent years designing this technique he now also runs workshops for broadcasters and with filmmakers to share his skills, most recently in Amsterdam, Belgium, Kansas City USA, South Africa, Germany, Indonesia and Sydney Australia.

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