Before, Now & Then

Kamila Andini (The Seen and the Unseen, SFF 2018; Yuni playing at SFF this year) tells a very personal story set against the backdrop of  tumultuous political times in Indonesia in this beguiling period drama. Nana (a luminous Happy Salma) loses her family, including her husband, in the war in West Java. Years later, now in the 1960s, we meet her again. Her poverty now a thing of the past, she has remarried a significantly older man, Mr Darga, who is wealthy and a philanderer. Though her life is comfortable, Nana’s dreams are still occupied by the past. A chance discovery of a carelessly forgotten item of clothing leads Nana to discover that Darga is having an affair with an even younger local woman, Ino. What follows is unexpected. Rather than a confrontation, Nana and Ino become friends, and take comfort in each other, jointly imagining a path to freedom. Meanwhile, through talk in the town of secret communists, and on radio broadcasts, the political tensions that will alter the future of Indonesia are made clear. An immersive sensorial experience, Before, Now & Then is made with painterly precision and is breathtakingly beautiful and deeply emotional.

KAMILA ANDINI is a mother and filmmaker based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She made her debut with The Mirror Never Lies (2011) which was followed by The Seen and Unseen (2017; SFF 2018). Yuni (2021) won the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before, Now & Then premiered in the Berlin Competition earlier this year.