Monica Vanesa Tedja
Directing
Biography
Born September 8, 1991 in Jakarta, Monica Vanesa Tedja (they/she) is a Chinese-Indonesian filmmaker based between Berlin and Jakarta, whose films pose questions around minority identity issues through intimate character work, while also exploring the tensions of black and white morality: ranging from religion and sexuality to the non-binary identity.
Known For
Friendship turns into rivalry as two obsessed K-pop fans working in the same minimart do whatever it takes to meet their idols in Korea.
Night Shift for Cuties
A tender, melancholic night is experienced through the eyes of three women as they struggle to find themselves in this ever-changing jungle of Jakarta.
In the Absence of the Sun
A 27-year-old Indonesian, Tim, is having a family vacation with both of his parents on a remote island far from the city, where they learn about the myth of a reincarnated deer that exists somewhere along the beach. Island locals believe that seeing the deer is a sign of meeting one’s soulmate. Tim is the only one who secretly hoping to discover the deer, hiding his desire from his very devout Christian parents.
Dear to Me
Monica scours archive material for answers to the question of how queer life in Berlin and the wish to be accepted by their Christian-Indonesian parents can be reconciled.
My Therapist Said, I am Full of Sadness
A quirky yet insecure 17-year-old girl named Maria V., who’s raised in a Catholic family and school, always masturbates before she goes to sleep. One day, her school arranges a church camp, in which requires all of its students to pray and spend the night together in a secluded place. A few days before the camp, Maria V. finds out that she has to share her room with a fellow student, Maria P. - the smartest, most beautiful and religious girl in her school. To save her pride, Maria V. struggles to fall asleep that night without having to masturbate.
Sleep Tight, Maria
24-year-old Tim navigates the tensions of being in a large, tight-knit, religious family and the hidden desires of his soon-to-be married cousin, his ailing grandmother, and his own queerness.
Dear Family
Callie is a 10 year-old girl who's intrigued when she saw two 15 year-old boys on her pick-up shuttle bus making a hand gesture which is considered as symbol related to sex. Callie doesn't know the meaning of the gesture and she can't stop thinking about it. From that moment onward, she insists to find out about it by asking adults around her.
The Flower & The Bee
Driven by childlike curiosity and the desire to get to know his new German home better, 9-year-old Hamid has made it his business to observe his surroundings with his binoculars and to document the actions of other people in his neighborhood. When one day a homeless woman comes into his field of vision, he realizes that the time has come for him to leave his observation post on his balcony at home.