ABSTRACT
In this chapter, filmmaker, curator, and researcher Luthfan Nur Rochman explores the entangled histories of colonialism, modernity, and repatriation in archipelagic Southeast Asia through the lens of Indonesian moving image cultures. The chapter examines how Indonesian film history has been fractured by censorship, neglect, and institutional bureaucracy—and how contemporary collectives such as Forum Lenteng have sought to reclaim, reframe, and activate archival images outside official channels. Through consideration of projects like Kultursinema and Akumassa, and Otty Widasari's multimedia practice, the chapter advances an expanded notion of repatriation: not the physical return of film reels, but the activation of archives as living, contested sites of knowledge and community-making. By foregrounding grassroots archival work, it highlights how Southeast Asian practitioners confront the colonial archive's afterlives and imagine new forms of cultural homecoming.
