Ernest Lesmana
Indonesia
Editor, Film Director, Scriptwriter
biography
Ernest Lesmana is an Indonesian independent filmmaker currently based in Boston. His works often delve into stories about kinship, intergenerational issues, cultural identity, and the ordinary chaos of daily lives. In his recent works, he has been infusing Indonesian ancient rituals, folktales, mysticism, and magical realism into his projects. Ruwatan, his first Indonesian short film about a mother experiencing black-magic-induced blindness, was invited to screen in numerous Oscar-qualifying film festivals, including Palm Springs International ShortFest and FLICKERS’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, among others. With the same short film, he was shortlisted as one of the finalists for the 2020 Sundance Ignite fellowship. In 2021, he was selected to be one of the mentees at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s Fantastic Film School. He earned his BFA in Film from Emerson College.
company profile
SINEMA5 (Sinema Lima) is an inclusive creative company that touches the five senses of humans around the world through authentic films with local stories. Our vision is to produce distinctive films and bring local stories to global audiences through collaborative movement. SINEMA5 was established in 2019 and is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.