Nia Dinata
Nurkurniati Aisyah Dewi, better known as Nia Dinata, is an award-winning Indonesian film director. Her movies are known for tackling subjects considered controversial or risky in Indonesia such as homosexuality, migrant workers and polygamy. After studying in Pennsylvania and New York City, Nia Dinata returned to her native Indonesia where she made her directorial debut with Looking for the Rainbow (1998), which was made for local television and won multiple national awards. This was followed by the ambitious undertaking of Ca-bau-kan (2002) about the tribulations of Chinese-Indonesians, adapted from a novel by Remy Sylado. The film was selected by Indonesia to represent the country in the Academy Awards’® Best Foreign Language Film category.
In 2003 she directed Arisan!, a low-budget film about LGBTQ issues that became a surprise success with over 500,000 admissions. The success led to her being invited to join the Cannes Young Directors program in 2004 and then she produced Joko Anwar’s award-winning Joni’s Promise followed by another of her own films, Love for Share about polygamy in Indonesia. This film became her second to be submitted to the Oscars®. Producing Quickie Express and Chants of Lotus soon followed, as did a sequel to Arisan! in 2011. Her most recent film as director was 2016’s musical drama Three Sassy Sisters.
Roles
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