ABOUT ME
she/her
Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto is an Indonesian writer/director currently based in Toronto. Her works utilize genre films as a medium to dissect sociopolitical, cultural, and environmental grievances through a female gaze. Often drawing from personal experiences and her interests in displacement and geographical boundaries, she is in pursuit of exploring her own brand of Indonesian futurism as a mix of mythology, occult elements and technological advancements in a (post-)colonial setting.
Her first short, Srikandi is a fantasy drama that premiered at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival: Asia, and the 40th Vancouver International Film Festival amongst other international festivals. Following her debut, she wrote and directed Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, a body horror food film produced as a 2022 Get Reel Filmmakers Scholarship recipient and premiered at Sundance Asia 2022. More recently, she completed Sawo Matang, a political futurism short as one of the 2021 NFFTY Pitch Competition winners and premiered at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival. Other than fiction, she co-directed a short documentary called Brown Enough, now available in TELUS Optik. She is an alumna of the 2020 Experimental Forest Writing is Rewriting Workshop, 2021 VIFF Catalyst Mentorship Program, 2023 BIFAN NAFF Fantastic Film School, 2023 Objectifs Short Film Incubator, and the 2023 DISFF Pitching Lab. In 2022, she co-founded Pidgin Productions in commitment to bridging gaps through our shared pidgin of art and cinema. When she’s not too busy thinking about food, Andrea is currently in development for her first feature film, anthology TV series, and other shorts.
Her first short, Srikandi is a fantasy drama that premiered at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival: Asia, and the 40th Vancouver International Film Festival amongst other international festivals. Following her debut, she wrote and directed Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, a body horror food film produced as a 2022 Get Reel Filmmakers Scholarship recipient and premiered at Sundance Asia 2022. More recently, she completed Sawo Matang, a political futurism short as one of the 2021 NFFTY Pitch Competition winners and premiered at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival. Other than fiction, she co-directed a short documentary called Brown Enough, now available in TELUS Optik. She is an alumna of the 2020 Experimental Forest Writing is Rewriting Workshop, 2021 VIFF Catalyst Mentorship Program, 2023 BIFAN NAFF Fantastic Film School, 2023 Objectifs Short Film Incubator, and the 2023 DISFF Pitching Lab. In 2022, she co-founded Pidgin Productions in commitment to bridging gaps through our shared pidgin of art and cinema. When she’s not too busy thinking about food, Andrea is currently in development for her first feature film, anthology TV series, and other shorts.