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Abstract

This article examines cultural commoning in Indonesian cinema by analysing how ethnic specificity is mobilized and articulated through storytelling, production, and circulation. Focusing on Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap (2022), the study shows how Bataknese cultural elements in this film are activated not as commodified spectacles or exotic markers, but as lived social resources embedded in the narration and its production process. At the narrative level, it is grounded in the everyday practices of family life and memory. At the level of production, the Bataknese director, art director, and cinematographer draw on shared personal experiences to shape the film’s narrative development and cinematographic elements, reflecting familiar domestic spaces and emotional dynamics recognizable to Bataknese audiences. In terms of circulation, the film relies on kinship-based WhatsApp groups, church networks, and targeted community screenings in regions with significant Bataknese populations, which prioritize relational trust and communal endorsement over algorithm-driven promotion. While deeply rooted in the Bataknese cultural context, the film’s exploration of migration, intergenerational conflict, reconciliation, and familial obligation resonates across ethnic boundaries. Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap (2022) demonstrates how regional filmmaking, despite being produced in the “centre” (Jakarta), could foster shared affective recognition and collective cultural engagement, thereby contesting capitalist, market-centred logics in Indonesia.

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