Indonesia is hoping to make Oscar history with “Yuni.” The country, which has yet to receive an Oscar nod in the International Feature category, is submitting Kamila Andini’s coming-of-age story for consideration at the 2022 Academy Awards. Screen Daily confirmed the news.
Penned by Andini and Prima Rusdi, “Yuni” made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the Platform prize. The drama tells the story of an ambitious teenage girl facing pressure to marry.
“’Yuni’ is about experiencing those little feelings of growing up and making mistakes to find out who we are as women. ‘Yuni’ is about listening to ourselves more than society. ‘Yuni’ is about having our own definition of liberation,” Andini told us. She added, “I want [audiences] to think about their daughters or other teenage girls out there. They are the ones who need our support to figure out what they want to do in the future. I want audiences to see that choices are hard for girls during that time [in life].”
Andini’s other features include “Angel Sign” and “The Seen and Unseen.”
Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” and Dina Duma’s “Sisterhood” are among the women-directed titles vying for an International Feature nod. The former, representing France, is a a portrait of a dancer, model, and serial killer with a sexual attraction to cars and the latter, representing North Macedonia, tells the story of inseparable teenage girls whose friendship takes an unexpected turn when they’re involved in the accidental death of a classmate.
Oscar nominations will be announced February 8 and the ceremony is slated to take place March 27.
