International Competition

Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch filmmaker, drama director and cameraman. While filming a demonstration in Indonesia in 1995, Leonard was arrested and imprisoned as a suspected spy, then declared ‘persona non grata’. He was unable to return to Indonesia for two years, during which time he worked as a documentary director and camera operator in the Netherlands. In 1997 Leonard returned to Indonesia to make the first documentary in a trilogy set before, during and after the period when Suharto resigned as Indonesia’s leader. The trilogy uses Leonard’s pioneering camera style, ‘single-shot cinema’, involving long takes with a constantly moving camera. The trilogy’s initial instalment, ‘The Eye of the Day’ (2001) made Leonard’s reputation as a world-class filmmaker. The sequel, ‘The Shape of the Moon’, won Best Documentary in the World Docs Competition at Sundance in 2005, and the Joris Ivens Award at the 2004 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). ‘Promised Paradise’ (2006), was banned in Indonesia, due to its controversial subject. Having completed ‘The Burning Season’, Leonard concluded his trilogy with the final film – ‘The Position Among the Stars’.