Film archive, 2024

Dancing Village: The Curse Begins

Badarawuhi Di Desa Penari

Director Kimo STAMBOEL

1Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Following a shaman′s instructions, Mila heads to ‘Penari Village’ on the eastern tip of Java Island with her cousin Yuda and their friends. Their mission is to return the legendary bracelet, ‘Kawaturih.’ However, upon arriving in the village, they are greeted by a strange silence, marked by the disappearance of the village chief and its guardian. Soon, the enigmatic dancer who rules the village, ‘Badarawuhi,’ reveals herself, and Mila is faced with a dire fate: if she does not return the bracelet in time, she will be chosen as the ritual sacrifice, ‘Dawuh,’ and be cursed. This film is a prequel to the previous box-office hit based on a novel, expanding the cycle of myths and legends rooted in a real event that occurred in Indonesia. The first installment of the series to be shot in IMAX, it weaves haunting sound design with intricate visual detail in crafting a monstrous world. Amidst a continuous stream of bizarre discomfort, Badarawuhi′s dance lingers like a nightmare that never ends.