Indonesian filmmaker Edwin on his big win at Locarno Film Festival for pulp movie Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash and its message about his country’s machismo
- Genre films don’t often win festival prizes, but Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash offers more than fist fights – it takes on Indonesia’s toxic masculinity
- Its director, Edwin, talks about the importance of that message, and how the movie pays tribute to Hong Kong martial arts films and American B-movies
More often than not a film that is a cocktail of vengeance, bloody fist fights and crude machismo is a cult hit rather than a festival award winner.
But on August 14, Indonesian director Edwin proved everyone wrong when his latest feature, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, not only had its world premiere at Switzerland’s prestigious Locarno Film Festival but also snared the top honour, the Golden Leopard, in its International Competition.
“I’m super happy. The award comes at a very good time,” Edwin said in an interview with the Post, after becoming the first Indonesian filmmaker to win the first prize in the festival’s 74-year history. “It gives a lot of people hope, which is something we really need right now, to feel alive in these crazy times.”
Co-produced by Indonesia’s Palari Films, Singapore’s Phoenix and E&W Films, and Germany’s The Match Factory and Bombero International, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash is Edwin’s fifth feature film.
His debut feature Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (2008) won prizes at the 3 Continents festival in Nantes, France, Taipei’s Golden Horse Awards, and Rotterdam’s International Film Festival. His second feature, Postcards from the Zoo (2012), competed at the 62nd Berlin Film Festival, and Posesif (2017) won the Citra Award, Indonesia’s most important film award, in 2017.
