Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service has acquired Makbul Mubarak’s award-winning debut feature, “Autobiography,” for the Southeast Asian region.
The film, which is being sold by Alpha Violet, follows young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), whose father is in prison and whose brother works abroad. He works as the housekeeper in a mansion in a rural Indonesian town belonging to retired general Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara). Purna returns to the town to start his mayoral election campaign and Rakib, whose clan has worked for the general’s family for centuries, serves as his assistant. An act of vandalism during the campaign triggers an escalating chain of violence.
The film debuted in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizon’s strand in 2022, where it won the FIPRESCI prize and has been on an award-winning spree since, winning at Tokyo, Adelaide, Singapore, Marrakech, Taipei Golden Horse, Stockholm, Bangkok, Hainan and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It also had two nominations at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong.
From January through March, “Autobiography” has had a theatrical release across Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
“I am very glad that ‘Autobiography’ will be released in a different platform, [on] such a massive outlet as Prime Video, therefore reaching different clusters of audiences, and will hopefully spark new discussions and new ways of enjoying ‘Autobiography.’ I am so grateful to live in an era where there are so many ways of reaching the audiences,” Mubarak says.
“We’re thrilled to have the award- winning ‘Autobiography’ on Prime Video. When it comes to local content, our aim is always to be the home of uniquely authentic story-telling, just like ‘Autobiography.’” says David Simonsen, director of Prime Video, Southeast Asia. “We’re seeing the potential of the local creative community across Southeast Asia and we are proud to support this talent by providing the resources, infrastructure and distribution to get shows like this to wider audiences.”
“Autobiography” is produced by KawanKawan Media, led by Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara, who was on Variety‘s 2023 International Women’s Impact list.
“A release such as the release of ‘Autobiography’ on Prime Video is a good momentum for an Indonesian film to be seen by the wider public in Southeast Asia. I am convinced that the collaborations between filmmakers of Southeast Asian nations will flourish even more in the future,” Bhara says.