Film Screening with Live Gamelan Music: Setan Jawa
Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 2:00pm
Ring Family Performing Arts Hall
Free and open to the public
Shadows are an element of magic realism, existing somewhere between reality and non-reality. The shadow world is a world in its own, creating color in endless shades of grey.
A mesmerizing silent black-and-white film brought to life through a powerful fusion of live gamelan and electronic music, Setan Jawa stands as a groundbreaking cross-cultural collaboration, conceived by acclaimed Indonesian director and producer Garin Nugroho—whose work has been featured at prestigious festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Busan. The music is composed and performed by Peni Candra Rini and Andy McGraw, in collaboration with I.M. Harjito and Sumarsam.
The original Indonesian score, composed by Rahayu Supanggah forms the foundation for a series of collaborations with international composers. The original score featured contributions from Supanggah’s protege, the singer Peni Candra Rini. For the performance at Wesleyan, Rini has created a new score for a small, experimental ensemble, based upon duet arrangements with Andy McGraw. Rini and McGraw are joined at moments by their teachers, I. M. Harjito and Sumarsam.
The inspiration for Setan Jawa lies in the German black and white silent cinema tradition,such as Nosferatu (1922) and Metropolis (1927). At the same time, the Indonesian shadow puppet theatre, wayang kulit, is another source of inspiration. This traditional yet popular performing practice is regarded by many as a predecessor of film because it tell stories by means of puppets that throw shadows on a large white screen. These shadows are for movie director Garin Nugroho an element of magic realism, existing somewhere between reality and non-reality. The shadow world is a world in its own, creating color in endless shades of grey. Setan Jawa then is a cinema exploration that combines oral Javanese tradition with new technology. The movie is the result of an intense and synergetic creative process with ample room for imagination, exploration, and innovation between a number of Indonesia’s leading artists in the field of filmmaking, music, dance, theatre, fashion, and visual arts. This open approach resulted in an innovative film that transcends time, space, and arts.
Garin Nugroho, Film Director, Screenwriter, Producer.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Garin Nugroho is a pioneer of major national film festivals and a key figure in bringing Indonesian cinema to the international stage, with his films featured at renowned festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Busan. His creative work extends beyond film into performing and visual arts, with stage productions and installations showcased across Australia and Europe.
In recognition of his contributions to film, art, and culture, he has received numerous prestigious awards, including France’s highest cultural award Officier des Arts et des Lettres, Italy’s Stella d’Italia Cavaliere, the Indonesian Presidential Cultural Award, the Singapore Film Festival Honorary Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bangkok International Film Festival, and a cultural award from Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.
Beyond the arts, Garin is actively engaged in civic and educational initiatives. He has worked with NGOs on civic education and post-tsunami empowerment programs in Aceh, and has written nine books on film, culture, and democracy. He is the founder and board member of several major film festivals, including JAFF, Madani, and Bali Makarya, and served as Head of the Jury for the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) from 2021 to 2023. He has also served as a jury member at prestigious festivals such as Venice, Tokyo, and Busan. Currently, he teaches at the Master’s and Doctoral programs at ISI Yogyakarta, ISI Solo, and other universities.
Peni Candra Rini, PhD (b. 1983) is a renowned Javanese singer, composer, and faculty member at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. The Kronos Quartet has described her as “one of the world’s greatest singers.” She is a master of several traditional forms and is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most daring young composers, one of only a handful of female composers in the majority Muslim nation. She has performed extensively internationally, including several world tours as the featured singer for Robert Wilson’s I La Galigo. She is a recipient of grants from the Asian Cultural Council, is a two-time grantee of the US State Department’s One Beat and Fulbright programs, and in 2022 was named an Aga Khan Foundation laureate of the arts. In 2023 she became the first woman to be commissioned to compose a work for the Mangkunegaran court of Central Java and in 2024 was bestowed the court name Raden Nganten Tumenggung, the highest honor offered by the Raja. In 2024 she completed a suite for string quartet commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and Carnegie Hall. Entitled Segara Gunung, the thirty-minute work concerns the impacts of climate change on the Indonesian archipelago is currently being performed by Kronos on major stages throughout the US and Europe. In 2024 she published two albums on the New Amsterdam label, in collaboration with Shahzad Ismaily, Andy McGraw, and members of Deerhoof, featuring her experimental compositions for Javanese and Western ensembles. In 2025 Kronos will release an album of her compositions for string quartet. Most recently, her trio with Ismaily and McGraw has performed at the Edinburgh International Festival, Roulette, Big Ears, the Monheim Triennale, as well as numerous venues in the US and Europe.
(Dr.) Andy McGraw (Wesleyan PhD'2005) is Associate Professor and Chair of Music at the University of Richmond in Virginia. He is the author of Radical Traditions: Reimagining Culture in Balinese Experimental Music (Oxford 2013) and Music as Ethics (Oxford 2023). He has co-edited two volumes on Indonesian music: Performing Indonesia, with Sumarsam (Smithsonian 2014) and Sounding Out the State of Indonesian Music, with Chris Miller (Cornell 2022). He has published numerous articles on music and ethics as well as analytical pieces on rhythm in Balinese, Javanese, and Cuban musics. In Richmond he facilitates community gamelan and stringband ensembles and runs a music program in the Virginia prison system. His research, teaching, and creative work has been supported by multiple Fulbright grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Arts International, the Smithsonian, and the Indonesian Department of Culture, among other organizations. Since 1996 he has spent years studying, teaching, and performing in Indonesia, collaborating with leading composers and performers in Bali and Java. His discography includes recordings on Sargasso, Porter, Tzadik, Out of Your Head, and New Amsterdam record labels.