TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Pangku, directed by Reza Rahadian, won the Best Feature Film Award at the 2025 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI). The film, which is currently screening in cinemas across Indonesia, secured four Citra Awards in total.
The film also earned Christine Hakim the Best Supporting Actress Award, while Reza and Felix K. Nesi won Best Original Screenplay. Eros Eflin received the award for Best Art Direction.
A Message to Mothers and Policymakers
In his acceptance speech, Reza dedicated the top award to his mother, Pratiwi Widantini Matulessy.
“My mother watched it from home. For me, this film is a way to honor the great women who continue to persevere despite their limitations,” he said at Jakarta Theater, Taman Ismail Marzuki, on Thursday, November 20, 2025.
Reza also highlighted the film’s focus on single mothers and the character Bayu.
“To all the little Bayus out there, and to policymakers, I hope you become the people who will no longer restrict their access to education,” he said.
He repeated a message he had expressed earlier when receiving another award. “I hope the little Bayus out there will no longer be unable to attend school simply because of administrative issues.”
First-Time Screenwriters Win Best Original Screenplay
Reza and novelist Felix K. Nesi also won Best Original Screenplay for their first collaboration.
“This was a collaborative process. Felix wrote the initial draft and I continued it. We refined it together and had many discussions along the way,” Reza said.
He added that they worked through complex creative decisions throughout the making of Pangku. “Both of us are new to this. This is our first screenplay together, so receiving this award motivates us to keep writing.”
Felix, who won the Jakarta Arts Council Novel Competition in 2019, said that writing a screenplay required a different approach from writing a novel.
“You have to imagine the acting right away. It is more limited and more visual. When writing a novel, you can still go anywhere,” he said.
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