Jakarta. A modest college film project from Jakarta has made an impressive leap to the international stage. Anak Macan, a 17-minute short directed by Amar Haikal, has been shortlisted for Best Short Film at the 2025 Citra Awards and selected to compete in the Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition at the 39th Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) in England.

The festival, set to take place on November 7, 2025, is an Oscar Qualifying event, giving Anak Macan a potential pathway to the Academy Awards should it win its category.

Created by Haikal and five fellow students from the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ), the short film was shot over three days at the Bantar Gebang landfill. The crew relied entirely on self-funding and cast a local child as the main actor, underscoring the film’s authentic portrayal of life in one of Indonesia’s most challenging environments.

Haikal developed the project under the mentorship of celebrated filmmaker Riri Riza, whose works include Ada Apa Dengan Cinta, Petualangan Sherina, and Rangga dan Cinta. The project later drew international attention when Momo Film, a Singapore-based production house, chose it as one of four recipients of its annual distribution grant in 2024, making Anak Macan the only Indonesian title among the winners.

“The story reflects the consequences of our collective consumerist habits through the imagery of a growing mountain of waste, so enormous it eventually collapses and buries a cemetery,” Amar said in a written statement on Thursday.

By weaving environmental and social commentary, Anak Macan paints a raw and emotional portrait of life in Bantar Gebang, while also exploring universal themes of grief, compassion, and honesty. “It’s also about longing, desire, and a boy’s search to understand his mother, a deeply personal story for me,” Amar added.

The film centers on Eki, a young boy living near Bantar Gebang who must find a woman’s belonging for a school assignment ahead of Mother’s Day. His simple task takes a devastating turn when torrential rain triggers a landslide that buries his mother’s grave. What follows is a quiet reflection on loss, truth, and self-discovery.