Exploitation films are known by many names. Trash films, cult films, B films, and so on. Whatever the name, they are all connected by the same common thread: cheap production, sometimes tacky, and certainly relaxed in violating social and visual norms.

The ‘exploitation’ in question refers to the emphasis on sensational aspects, which in Indonesia often manifests as a flood of blood and tears on the screen. Indeed, exploitation films cross various genres, but in Indonesia they are synonymous with action, horror, and fantasy films. These genres are considered the types of films that the audience is looking for. Therefore, the sensational aspects in it are ‘exploited’ by production companies and filmmakers to grab the attention of the audience.

Exploitation films fill a specific economic role in the film ecosystem. Because of their ability to grab the attention of the audience, films like this are often placed as the focus of the industry. In all the crises that Indonesian cinema has gone through, exploitation films are almost always present as the last line of the economy. The quality of the production may be modest, sometimes it is deliberately made quickly so that it can fill cinema showtimes, which is expected to continue to encourage ticket sales, whatever it may be. In fact, with all the negative impressions that are put on them, these films always have their own public. And not a few of them are loyal followers.

This community forum invited Ekky Imanjaya, a film academic, who researched the production, distribution and exhibition of exploitation films in Indonesia during the Suharto Order, from 1979 to 1995. During the same period, these films in various ways even found new publics in Indonesia. outside Indonesia, which at

the process raises a number of interesting questions about the politics of taste and aesthetics.

Also in attendance were Amer Brothers, gen Z filmmakers who have loved Indonesian exploitation films from the past to the present. His short films, from Pocong Hiu Unleashed (2017), Goyang Kubur Mandi Malam (2018), to Graveyard Walk (2022), are Azzam’s (one of the Amer Brothers) love letters to his favorite shows.

Together, Ekky and the Amer Brothers will share how exploitation films become the best and most sensual catalog of all the paranoia that shape our humanity.

This activity will also be complemented by the launch of Ekky Imanjaya’s latest book entitled “The Real Guilty Pleasures: Reconsidering New Order Transnational Exploitation Cinema” (working title), and takes place offline at the TIM Kineforum with limited participant capacity