The Feel of History

Each year on the 1st of March, a historical society called the Komunitas Djokjakarta 1945 re-enacts one of the last battles with the Dutch colonizers of 1949 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Following their preparations, this film seeks to portray this community and its main members and explores why these men are so interested in re-enacting the past. Focusing on the material culture of re-enactment, this film shows how these people create their own spectacular and romanticized re-presentation of the past that allows them to temporarily be the war heroes that they worship so much.

Lise Zurné

Lise Zurné graduated both her BA Cultural Anthropology and MA in Visual Anthropology Cum Laude. Interested in the politics of memory, nationalism and history, her thesis analysed the culture of re-enactment in Indonesia. Currently, she is involved in developing a walk-app, organizes a monthly filmscreeningseries called Framing Asia and works as a teaching assistant at the course Media Worlds at Leiden University. She also works as a researcher in a project that aims to enhance the cultural diversity of the Dutch Filmacademy.