Jamila and the President

Jamila and the President (2009)

Jamila dan Sang Presiden

Who wants me to be a prostitute?

Jamila is a prostitute serving a life sentence behind bars. She surrenders herself to the authorities after admitting she killed a high-ranking minister, and refuses to be represented by any lawyer or request a plea to ease her sentence.

Date of release
2009-04-30
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (3)
Runtime
1h 27m
Genres
Drama
Director
Ratna Sarumpaet, Sam Sarumpaet

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Indonesia
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Jamila and the President is a 2009 Indonesian film directed and written by Ratna Sarumpaet and starring Atiqah Hasiholan and Christine Hakim. It follows the story of a prostitute sentenced to death for killing a government minister.

Production

Jamila and the President was directed by Ratna Sarumpaet, a women's rights activist. The film, Sarumpaet's directorial debut, was based on a theatrical drama she had previously made entitled Pelacur dan Sang Presiden (The Prostitute and the President), which was put on in 2006 in five cities by Satu Merah Panggung Theatre Troup.

Sarumpaet cast her daughter, Atiqah Hasiholan, in the lead role. Initially Hasiholan viewed her character as a "regular slutty prostitute", but after thinking of the character more thoroughly, she considered Jamila a "victim of life". To better play her character, Hasiholan visited several prostitution districts and spoke with sex workers there, learning their motivations; she drew the conclusion that poverty was a deciding factor.

Much of the cast and crew, including star Hasiholan, had previously acted in the stage play. Sarumpaet reported that the film cost Rp.6.5 billion (US$800,000) to produce; She originally had difficulty finding sponsors. The film spent three years in production.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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