What’s the point?

The film gives a closer look at the practice of female circumcision in Indonesia. Although female circumcision in Indonesia doesn’t remove the whole part of the women’s clitoris and labia as in Africa, it is still widely accepted. The reason is to ‘clean’ the girl and prevent the girl from evil spirit that leads her to being promiscuous. Even today, many people are not aware of the threat from the practice. The film shows the chaotic beliefs and context behind female circumcision.

AT STAKE/PERTARUHAN was officially selected for the Berlin International Film Festival at the Panorama Section in 2009. It was the first Indonesian documentary ever to be selected at the Berlinale. It was also screened at the Jakarta International Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Freedom Film Festival in Malaysia.

A roadshow of AT STAKE/PERTARUHAN was organised in cities such as Bogor, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Malang, Batam, Lampung, Bengkulu, Bali, Pontianak, Jambi, Aceh, and Makassar. "At Stake" was also the opening film during 2009's Freedom Film Fest in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. If you are a film community or organization who wants to conduct a screening this movie, please contact Sandy Monteiro.

Iwan Setiawan & Muhammad Ichsan

Iwan is a television news journalist still working for a major TV network in Indonesia. His real passion is documentary film and has been making short documentaries in his spare time. ‘Illegal Logging’ is one of his documentaries that has won the 2004 Indonesian Film Festival award. Muhammad Ichsan graduated from Trisakti University, majoring in Visual Art and has been working in film as an art director as well as assistant director since 2002.