While Gareth Huw Evans may have reintroduced the world to Indonesian action with
Merantau and
The Raid, those films are not an introduction of the action genre to the SE Asian nation but, rather, a reinvigoration of a tradition that spans back to the 1930s. And for those wanting to get deeper into that history upcoming documentary
Garuda Power dives deep into the history of action cinema in Indonesia.
THE RAID 1 & 2's success put worldwide spotlight on a largely unknown Asian Cinema country; few people know that there are currently 80 movies produced per year and that Gareth Evan's instant action classics are the latest of a range of hundreds of totally crazy action titles produced in Indonesia since the early 1930s.
The docu-fiction GARUDA POWER is the final result of many years of research about Indonesian Action Movies - or what's still left of it.
It focuses on Action Movies from the first Chinese-influenced martial arts movies of the 1930s, the James Bond copies of the swinging 1960s, the Bruce Lee-alikes and super hero comic book adaptations of the 1970s, the golden age of the 1980s up to recent worldwide success of the two RAID movies.
It will include never-before shown footage of old forgotten Action titles, many interviews of cult actors (Barry Prima, George Rudy, Billy Chong aka Willy Donzan; Advent Bangun...) and directors (Imam Tantowi, Ackyl Anwari...) of the 1980s and some unreleased behind-the-scenes footage of newer movies.
Directed by Bastian Meiresonne and produced by Julien Thialo at Shaya Production,
Garuda Power is currently in post production and aiming for a festival run later this year. Check out a series of stills from the film below!