In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Indonesia was recovering from multiple crises. It struggled to recover its economy after the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998. When the economy stabilised, the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard in 2020–2021. The global health disaster led to crises in various sectors, including again in the economy, with businesses dwindling and many people losing their jobs due to mobility restrictions. The period also saw the country re-establish itself as a democratic country after the demise of the New Order (1966–1998) authoritarian regime. The democratisation of the public sphere led to the flourishing of civil society movements and an intensifying Islamisation. Among the civil society movements were feminist and LGBTQI movements, which previously had been carefully controlled by the authoritarian regime. In addition, Islamisation became the most striking feature in politics, the economy and culture of the period. Interactions between these movements triggered major changes and debates within Indonesian gender politics. They partly called into question the patriarchal gender order (see Robinson, this volume) and thus the legitimacy of bapakism, which is mainly premised in men’s breadwinning, leadership in family and society, and heteronormativity as the official and dominant ideal of masculinity (Suryakusuma 2011: 5).

During the period, Indonesian cinema flourished, with emerging filmmakers seeking to engage with various sociocultural transformations in the post-authoritarian landscape. Indonesian cinema was reinvigorated by the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers (Sasono 2012) who were eager to take part in the country’s democratisation process through cinema. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the film industry was also affected. Production and consumption declined due to mobility restrictions. Yet, alternative screening methods through on-demand platforms flourished. Once the restrictions were eased in 2021, production increased, albeit with new rules in place to prevent the spread of the disease among crew. Consequently, Indonesian cinema became one of the most important arenas for gender politics, including the struggle to secure a new form of ideal masculinity in Indonesia. Filmmakers who were critical of the patriarchal gender order and hegemonic masculinity experimented and innovated with alternative ideal masculinities in their works.

My study examines the nexus between gender politics and cinema. I look at commercial filmmakers’ roles in the broader struggles to steer the gender order through the cinematic representation of ideal masculinity.