Curatorial Statement
By Lisabona Rahman
Kinofest 2025 | FAMILY - EXTENDED
Kinofest 2025 presents a cinematic map of evolving and diverse ideas of what family can be. This year’s films stretch the concept beyond traditional definitions, exploring family as something fluid—shaped by context, labor, history, and emotion. These stories ask: What defines a family today? Is it still a place of comfort and unconditional support, or has it become a web of chosen connections, no longer rooted in bloodlines?
Across cultures—from Berlin to Tehran—families are formed as units of care and belonging. Yet within these units, individuals maintain personal beliefs and desires, creating tensions and fractures. In today’s world, family is not always personal—it can be political. It can uphold systems of control, or become a space for critical thinking, resistance, and transformation.
The German films at Kinofest 2025 reflect this complexity. They trace the changing face of family through Germany’s social, ideological, and economic histories. Some stories show how rebellion, rather than tradition, can forge tighter family bonds. In these shared acts of defiance, connection is sparked, and community is reimagined.
Motherhood, too, is examined through a contemporary lens. In these films, it is not just a symbol of love or sacrifice, but a source of anxiety, strength, and radical change. Women’s experiences of childbearing—whether chosen or socially imposed—are shown in all their psychological and emotional depth. The visual language across dramas, comedies, and thrillers reveals the inner lives of women at all stages of life. Motherhood becomes not just about creating life, but also about birthing new ideas, political theory, and moments of resistance.
This year's program also explores the often invisible world of care work. Domestic workers, nurses, and cleaners—many of them women—are placed at the center of their own stories. These films highlight how their labor sustains the very notion of home and family, even as it remains undervalued. They remind us that family is also about care, dependence, and the social structures that shape who is seen and who is not.
Finally, several films confront the dark side of familial bonds. Behind closed doors, love can twist into manipulation, resentment, or cruelty. In some stories, these tensions erupt into surrealistic violence—haunting metaphors for unspoken trauma and generational wounds.
Together, the films of Kinofest 2025 challenge us to rethink the meaning of family: not as a fixed ideal, but as a space of complexity, contradiction, care, and change.
Lisabona has also curated film screening programs for festivals, archives, and galleries. She began her career as a film programmer during the early years of Kineforum with the Jakarta Arts Council in 2006. Since then, she has collaborated with various festivals and institutions in Asia and Europe. Her works have been created and exhibited with the support of institutions such as the Arsenal Institute in Berlin, EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Film Archive Public Organization of Thailand, and Rubanah Underground Hub Jakarta. In 2024, Lisabona participated in the selection committee of the Forum section of the Berlinale Film Festival. She is also a co-founder of Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan (School of Women’s Thought) and Kelas Liarsip - collectives of artists, writers, and cultural workers actively creating learning spaces and events for feminists of the Nusantara archipelago, nurturing transnational solidarity.