China
2026.09.22 18:08 GMT+8

SRIFF 2026: Indonesian filmmaker finding her voice on screen

Updated 2026.09.22 18:08 GMT+8
CGTN

Indonesian director and screenwriter Mouly Surya grew up watching martial arts films with her sisters on rented tapes. Now she's judging in Xi'an. 

Raise the Red Lantern – by Zhang Yimou, who's from Xi'an – is still one of her favorites, and it shaped how she saw Asian cinema. 

This year, she's at the Golden Silk Road Award, on a jury with filmmakers from other countries. Watching films with them, she told CGTN's Zhang Meng, gives her something she doesn't get from watching alone.

"Even though we speak a different language, there is something in our roots that we can understand very well." Which is why, she says, collaboration on screen is worth imagining.

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