Impetigore

Maya, struggling to make a living in the city, learns that a house belonging to her family stands in the village where she was born, and travels there with a friend. Children in the village are born without skin, and the villagers believe her family is the reason. The film is not interested in horror effects. It is interested in the crime at the root of the curse: what happened to the village is not supernatural punishment but the consequence of a murder committed and covered up years ago. The film tells it on a shadow-puppet screen. The form draws on local material: wayang kulit shadow theatre, village architecture and Javanese folklore build both the visual language and the fear. The sound design and the use of darkness are unshowy and effective. Joko Anwar wrote and directed. The film had a wide release in Indonesia and placed near the top of the box office, and made its international premiere at Sundance, also screening in Rotterdam. Tara Basro plays Maya and Christine Hakim the old woman of the village. Who it is for: viewers who like Southeast Asian horror and folklore-based narrative. Who it is not for: anyone avoiding violence. Skinning and violence towards infants are shown directly.