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There is a village in a place without a name. Smoke and dust blanket the people. Prejudice and jealously strangle human behavior. Ibrahim, a young teacher, comes to the village to bring about reform in the teaching of religion. An old teacher is jealous with the young teacher's personal charisma; his lonely wife even falls in love. What happens next? Repeated slander.
Titian Serambut Dibelah Tujuh (A Bridge Made of Hair Sliced Into Seven), a film written by Asrul Sani and directed by Chaerul Umam, was awarded The Best Film Scenario at the 1973 Indonesian Film Festival. El Manik, Dewi Irawan and Soekarno M. Noor, the leading actors of the film, acted superbly. In fact, the film, under the direction of Asrul Sani, was made in black and white.
Together with Al Kautsar , a film also written by Asrul Sani, Titian Serambut Dibelah Tujuh has become a classic and it is no surprise that it has been chosen to be shown at the Jakarta International Film Festival as part of the Festival Issues on Contemporary Islamic Cultures.
Asrul Sani, who is also known as a poet, an essayist and an observer of culture, has produced 14 films and written 50 screenplays. He recently let his hair down and spoke with TEMPO's Leila Chudori and Purwani Prabandari in his harmoniously chic home in Jakarta. Following is an excerpt:
Your film is included in Islamic Film Festival. Is there an accurate definition of an Islamic film?
I have hardly used the term 'Islamic film.' Films are a part of culture. Culture should not be understood as an object, but rather it should be understood as a verb, a response given by someone against a challenge present at a particular time in a particular place. We have been taught to understand culture as an object like a temple. But an umbrella is also a culture. An umbrella maker is pushed by a value. For example, a man is going to see his parents and it is raining. If he goes on in spite of the rain, then he will inevitably get soaked. He will then take a piece of banana leaf to protect his head from the rain. That is a culture. Then he has a...