{"id":161755,"date":"2025-12-01T04:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/161755\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T04:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:14:07","slug":"time-travel-drama-to-my-dearest-my-dear-lands-at-jaff-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/161755\/","title":{"rendered":"Time-Travel Drama ‘To My Dearest, My Dear’ Lands at JAFF Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNetanya Yemima, whose short film \u201cThe Most Handsome Fish on Earth\u201d premiered at the 20th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival<\/a> last year, has her feature directorial debut \u201cTo My Dearest<\/a>, My Dear\u2026\u201d selected for the JAFF Future Project, a time-travel drama about a dying father who leaps into the future to meet the daughter he\u2019ll never live to see.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Indonesia production, directed by Yemima and produced by Bela Nabila and Bayu Arief, is among 10 Asia-Pacific titles selected for the JAFF Future Project at this year\u2019s JAFF Market<\/a> in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The project previously participated in Jakarta Film Week Producers Lab 2024 and Platform Busan 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo My Dearest, My Dear\u2026\u201d follows Adam, a soon-to-be father diagnosed with cancer in 2008 who braces for the end. Until one day, he discovers a way to travel through time. Seizing the chance, he leaps into the future to meet Nadia, the daughter he never lived to see.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdam keeps traveling through time to make sure his wife Marsha and Nadia live the future he once dreamed of \u2014 even without him in it. But when he visits Nadia at 16, he finds their bond broken and Marsha on the verge of marrying someone new. Desperate to understand what went wrong, Adam grows closer to Nadia. Together, they embark on a whirlwind mission to disrupt Marsha\u2019s new relationship while discovering the fragile, exciting and unexpected bond between a father and daughter who were never meant to meet.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen Bela approached me with the idea for \u2018To My Dearest, My Dear\u2026\u2019, I immediately fell in love with it,\u201d Yemima says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a father\u2013daughter story that can be told in a very unique and compelling way. We had lengthy discussions after that, sharing our feelings and our personal relationships with our dads. As we developed the story, we realized that our different backgrounds could enrich it even more and make it resonate universally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat started as an exploration of time travel and a father-daughter relationship has evolved into something deeply personal. \u201cIt\u2019s a story I simply couldn\u2019t resist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe director wants to explore the theme of unfailing love. \u201cI reflected a lot on how time and life move so fast. It\u2019s a little frightening that as time flies, nothing stays the same,\u201d Yemima says. \u201cBut love, love might stay, and that\u2019s beautiful. Through this film, I want to talk about the theme of unfailing love. It\u2019s about a love that endures even when life, illness, or time itself pulls people apart. A love that gives strength, just as it does for our main character Adam, whose love for his family transcends life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer Nabila, who also co-wrote the screenplay, emphasized the personal resonance of the project. \u201cOur feature film debut carries deep sentimental value for both Netanya and me, not only as creators, but as daughters,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though Netanya and I come from very different father\u2013daughter dynamics, that contrast actually became an advantage. It opened up a richer perspective in shaping Adam and Nadia, allowing us to build their relationship with more nuance, empathy, and emotional truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis marks the sixth collaboration between Yemima and Nabila. \u201cIn our previous short film, \u2018The Most Handsome Fish on Earth,\u2019 her craftsmanship really shone,\u201d Nabila says. \u201cShe has the ability to balance something serious with a lighthearted touch, while still delivering an emotional experience that resonates with audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer Arief sees the film as a refreshing alternative in the Indonesian market. \u201cIn today\u2019s Indonesian market, where horror films dominate, a heartfelt story like this would offer a genuinely refreshing alternative for audiences,\u201d he says. \u201cWith the growing diversity of genres in Indonesian cinema especially films that incorporate a hint of fantasy and a thoughtful exploration of the genre, I believe our film can enter this expanding segment of the industry and contribute to the exploration of new directions in storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt JAFF Market, the team hopes to connect with potential investors, Indonesian production companies and international distributors. \u201cJAFF Future Project gives us the kind of space we\u2019ve been looking for: a place where potential investors, Indonesian production companies, and even international distributors can really engage with the project,\u201d Nabila says. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping they\u2019ll feel what we feel, and believe in the story as much as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYemima\u2019s previous short films include \u201cSunat Racing,\u201d funded by Jakarta Film Week, and \u201cRumah Kuta Kita,\u201d which won best film at Semester Pendek 2021. \u201cThe Most Handsome Fish on Earth\u201d was developed at LOCK x Full Circle Lab 2023 and received funding from Layar Indonesiana.<\/p>\n

\n\tJAFF Future Project functions as both a development platform and co-production hub, designed to advance independent works toward completion and distribution. The initiative runs Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at the Jogja Expo Center in Yogyakarta as part of the broader 20th-anniversary celebration of the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Netanya Yemima, whose short film \u201cThe Most Handsome Fish on Earth\u201d premiered at the 20th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,95688,95880,97286],"class_list":["post-161755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jaff-market","tag-jogja-netpac-asian-film-festival","tag-to-my-dearest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}