Raja Adil Siregar, Palembang – the Palembang municipal government in South Sumatra has banned cinemas from screening the film Memories of My Body (Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku) because it is conflicts with religious norms.

Palembang City Regional Secretary Ratu Dewa has confirmed the ban saying the film directed by Garin Nugroho contains negative values which could influence the younger generation.

“Just from looking at the excerpts, the film contains negative values and could influence the younger generation. It’s not appropriate”, explained Dewa after watching the film’s trailer on Monday April 29.

Based on this objection, Dewa immediately sent a letter of protest to the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) in Palembang. He is asking that there is no screening of films which show deviant sexual behaviour.

Not only that, Dewa claims to have made notes of the points that support his objection. Dewa has even asked all cinemas to obey the regulations on the screening of films that are inappropriate.

“This will impact on the millennial generation and justify deviant sexual behaviour. There is deviant sexual behaviour [in the film] and I immediately sent a letter of protest to the Palembang KPI”, explained Dewa.

Several regional governments have banned “Memories of My Body” including the Jakarta satellite city of Depok and Pontianak in West Kalimantan. The reasons cited for the ban were not very different, namely that the film depicts scenes of sexually deviant behaviour. (ras/jbr)

Notes

Last year Memories of My Body won the Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, Australia, for an “extraordinary” contribution to the promotion and conservation of cultural diversity through film. The film also won the 2018 Bisato D’Oro Award from the Venice Independent Film Critics as well Best Film at the Festival Des 3 Continents, in Nantes, France. In Indonesia the film was selected as Tempo’s Film Choice at the 2018 Tempo Film Festival in Jakarta.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Pemkot Larang Film ‘Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku’ Tayang di Palembang”.]

Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4528791/pemkot-larang-film-kucumbu-tubuh-indahku-tayang-di-palembang