NIA DINATABiography Nia Dinata was born on March 4, 1970 in Jakarta,
Indonesia. She graduated from a
Mass Communication major at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She then took special programs on film
production at New York University.
After returning from the USA in 1995, Nia works in various
projects, mostly for television.
In 1998 she won an award in The Indonesian Film for TV Festival for Best
Picture and Best Drama for a 90 minutes television drama titled Mencari Pelangi (or In Search for the Rainbow).
Since then, Nia has directed various TV programs, TV commercials and
music videos. Her first feature film debut was a semi colosal epic titled
Ca-bau-kan (or The Courtesan) which was produced in 2001. Ca-bau-kan
is a film based on the novel by an Indonesian prominent writer, Remy
Sylado. Ca-bau-kan is the first movie that revolves around the Chinese
community in Indonesia after the Indonesian reform era. For Ca-bau-kan,
Nia won an award for Best Promising New Director in Asia Pacific Film Festival,
Seoul, Korea in 2002. The film
also won Best Art Director in the same festival. In 2003, Ca-bau-kan was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Art
& Science (AMPAS) to be screened for a candidate of Foreign Film
nomination. In April 2002, together with Afi Shamara, they produced
their second feature film titled Biola
Tak Berdawai (or The Stringless
Violin). This film is a debut
for independent Indonesian woman director, Sekar Ayu Asmara. In 2003, Nia directed Arisan!
(or The Gathering), a satirical
comedy with a screenplay written by Nia herself and Joko Anwar. Arisan!
receives countless raved worldwide reviews for its boldness in portraying gay
characters in Indonesia (the largest Muslim country) and has won audiencesf
heart for its heartwarming sincerity.
The film won numerous awards in film festivals in Indonesia. In the Cinemasia Film Festival in
Amsterdam 2004, Arisan! won Best Film
and Most Popular Film. In Asian
American International Film Festival in New York 2004, the film is nominated
for the Annual Emerging Director Award. In MTV Indonesian Movie Awards in 2004,
the film won Best Picture, Best Director and Most Favorite Supporting
Actor. In the Indonesian Film
Festival (FFI) in 2004, the film won Best Film, Best Editing, Best Actor, Best
Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. In May 2004, for the 20th anniversary
of Fonds Sud Cinéma, together with the French Foreign Affairs Minister and
festival de Cannes; Nia was invited to join the Cannes Young Directors Program. In June 2004 Nia was selected as one of
the juries for the French Film Festival in Indonesia. Niafs upcoming projects: -
She will act as the producer for
a feature film titled Janji Joni (or Jonifs Promise). Principle photography will start in
January 2005 and the movie is planned to be released in April 2005. This will be the debut for Joko Anwar
(co-writer of Arisan!) as a director. -
Nia has finished writing the
script for Berbagi Suami (or Love for Share or Partage ton mari), the third feature film that she
will direct in 2005. This movie is
a satirical drama about polygamy in modern Indonesia. -
In the planning stage to develop
a film foundation in order to assist Indonesian film makers |