Film archive, 2025

On Your Lap

Director Reza RAHADIAN

1Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Sartika, a young pregnant woman, flees to a small coastal village in search of a better life for herself and the baby she is carrying. She must build a new life, but with no particular skills, she has few means to support herself. Fortunately, the owner of a small roadside café takes her in, providing room and board—on the condition that she serves coffee while sitting on male customers’ laps. In a life that seems to have nothing left to lose, Sartika finds strength in watching her son grow. In days tangled with exploitation and compassion, prejudice and hope, she struggles to hold on to a small possibility of love and dignity. That possibility begins to take shape when she meets Hadi, a truck driver whose presence captures her attention. Marking the feature directorial debut of Reza Rahadian—long recognized as one of Indonesia’s leading actors—On Your Lap offers a poignant gaze into a woman’s intimate struggle and her fragile hold on hope in the face of crisis.