Documentary on Dutch East Indies

Documentary on Dutch East Indies

JAKARTA (JP): In conjunction with its 25th anniversary, Erasmus Huis, the Dutch Cultural Center in Jakarta, will screen a documentary film on Indonesia during colonial days.

The film, called Dewi Dao, yang Mirip Seekor Kura-kura (Dewi Dao, who resembles a turtle), was directed by Dutch national Vincent van Monnikendam and made from a number of documentary films on Indonesia made during the period of 1912 to 1932 and now a collection of the Netherlands Film Museum.

"In 1989, the Museum published a catalog on its inventory of films related to Dutch East Indies which maybe reaches as long as 250,000 meters," Monnikendam wrote in a synopsis made to explain the film.

"I had to select them to make this one and half hour long documentary film. But I should say these films are really remarkable, of good quality and have great historical and cultural values," he wrote.

The documentary film will be shown for the first time in Indonesia. For around 60 years, the films had never been shown either in the Netherlands or in Indonesia.

Dewi Dao which will be shown on Thursday, March 30, is in old Javanese language with English subtitles. (als)