Meet the 2013 Sundance Filmmakers #4: Mouly Surya Explores the Odds of Love Between the Disabled in ‘What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love’
Acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya tracks the lives of a group of students at a high school for the visually impaired in Jakarta, in her character study “What They Won’t Talk About When They Talk About Love,” premiering in the World Dramatic section. The drama marks the 32-year-old’s second feature, following her debut “Fiksi.” When not on set, Surya teaches directing class for first years at a local film school.
What It’s About: “The odds of love between the blind, the deaf and the unlucky sighted people, set in the school of the visually impaired.”
Why I Made It: “I feel discouraged seeing films pitying the people with disabilities. For once I wanted to see them in a film where they are as human as we are, and even at certain length, luckier than those without disabilities, at least, in love.”
Keeping It Real: “Almost all the visually and hearing impaired extras in the film are played by real visually and hearing impaired people, except for the main characters who are acted by professional actors. We then ‘adjust’ the professional set to blend with the extras.”
Inspirations: “I dislike direct references when I am making a film. I even have a habit to watch less movies during production. But I’ve always been a big fangirl of Stanley Kubrick and I recently discovered love to some works of Shunji Iwai.”
Up Next: “I am currently writing a script set in Indonesia, Japan and U.S. with three sets of stories about three different fans of Japanese idols connected through the Internet wire. Hence the title, ‘The Fandom Diary.'”
Indiewire invited Sundance Film Festival directors to tell us about their films, including what inspired them, the challenges they faced and what they’re doing next. We’ll be publishing their responses leading up to the 2013 festival.
Keep checking HERE every day up to the launch of the festival on January 17 for the latest profiles.
