Golek Garwo
– Wahyu Utami
“Golek Garwo” relates the story of an elderly man, Basri, his wish to get married again, and the expectations and reality he faces. This documentary offers a different take on the love that is usually expressed in romance films: always something beautiful and perfect in an ideal world. It depicts the simple and practical expression of love. It focuses on simple acts of intimacy; arguments between the bride and the groom and a sense of pride that stops them from expressing their true feelings. It also delves into the tension they experience living apart and working in two different cities.
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Wahyu Utami was born in Wonogiri, a village in Central Java in 1988. She graduated with a master’s degree from the Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She is a filmmaker and lecturer at the Jogja Film Academy. Her first film “Welu De Fasli” was nominated at the International Competition ARKIPEL 2017. Her second film “Unseen Words” received an award for the best short documentary film at an Indonesian Film Festival in 2017.
This documentary arose out of curiosity about a “Golek Garwo” (matchmaking) event in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I was curious about the motivations that the organizers and participants had toward the event. In this film, I focused on a particular story through choosing Pak Basri (62 years) as a main character. I was predominately interested in finding out about relationships and how people talk about marriage from the perspective of the elderly.
A self-taught filmmaker, in 2015 he made a short documentary film entitled “Dear My Homeland” as a director and this was screened at the Dokumenter film festival. At the same time, he started to produce a short fiction film “On the Origin of Fear” which screened at the Venice International Film Festival 2016, the Toronto International Film Festival 2016, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2016. His last work as producer was the documentary feature film “You and I” directed by Fanny Chotimah which premiered at the DMZ Doc Film Festival 2020 and won the Asian Perspective Award.
