{"id":634909,"date":"2026-10-19T03:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T03:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/634909\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T03:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T03:34:18","slug":"horror-movies-bridging-culture-between-regional-australia-and-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/634909\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror movies ‘bridging culture’ between regional Australia and Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indonesian filmmaker Ivan Mosqueda does not hesitate when you ask him about his favourite Australian horror movie.<\/p>\n

“Talk to Me,” Mr Mosqueda said.<\/p>\n

He is not alone.<\/p>\n

The 2022 hit by Australian brothers Michael and Danny Philippou, which made $92 million from a $4.5 million budget, has inspired a generation of creators.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A social media-captured seance becomes\u00a0a conduit between the living and the dead in this debut horror. (Supplied: A24)<\/p>\n

Mr Mosqueda is part of a group hoping to leverage the momentum of the Australian horror genre in a filmmaking program between Indonesian and regional Queensland universities.<\/p>\n

University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) lecturer Katherine Putnam said a “shared language of fear” had broken down language barriers among the group of filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Katherine Putnam says the horror genre can bring different cultures together. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

“Fear is universal,” Dr Putnam said.<\/p>\n

“The thing about horror is that it is a highly popular genre in Indonesia. It’s also a highly popular genre in Australia, especially with youth.”<\/p>\n

The team spent a week filming short horror movies in Indonesia before calling action in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\"indonesian<\/p>\n

Director of photography Juan Satiadarma said he enjoyed visiting Australian Maccas. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

The language of horror<\/p>\n

While Mick Taylor, the sadistic outback butcher from Wolf Creek, still haunts many Australians on road trips, Dr Putnam said the face of the domestic horror industry was changing.<\/p>\n

“As a genre, it goes beyond the gore to the primal emotions and themes about our world and how it operates,” Dr Putnam said.<\/p>\n

The program is operating on a tight $60,000 budget, funded by UniSQ and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.<\/p>\n

Dr Putnam hoped it would lead to more creative partnerships between Australia and Indonesia and ease the reliance on financing from the United States.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The regional Australian and Indonesian filmmakers after filming in Pittsworth. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

Mr Mosqueda said it was interesting to contrast the similarities and differences between Australian and Indonesian horror.<\/p>\n

“Back in Indonesia, religion still has a big part, so the horror comes from traditional beliefs,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mr Mosqueda said different species of insects that showed up on set in Toowoomba were a shock.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

A scene from regional Australian filmmaker Soren Jocumsen’s The Long Road Home. (Supplied: Soren Jocumsen)<\/p>\n

“Whereas in Australia, the scary part could be the wilderness because Australia is big and there is lots of empty space.”<\/p>\n

‘Regional with benefits’<\/p>\n

For the three Australian filmmakers involved in the program from Cairns, Mackay, and the Sunshine Coast, it was a rare chance for creatives outside of Brisbane to receive funding.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a whirlwind, bit of a fever dream to be honest,” Sunshine Coast-based filmmaker Amy Parry said.<\/p>\n

She said filmmakers outside of metro cities were banding together, inspired by the Phillippou brothers’ YouTuber-to-box-office success.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sunshine Coast-based filmmaker Amy Parry directing a horror short film in Pittsworth. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

“We’ve got a great little collective of filmmakers [on the Sunshine Coast], and of course we can travel to Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” Ms Parry said.<\/p>\n

But Ms Parry said she was concerned regional filmmakers will be the first to suffer as the state government cut<\/a> at least $13 million in annual funding to Screen Queensland for the next two years.<\/p>\n

The organisation had been involved with Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, and Bluey.<\/p>\n

“It would just be great for the government to also find value in the huge industry that is here and bringing so much money into the state.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indonesian filmmaker Ivan Mosqueda does not hesitate when you ask him about his favourite Australian horror movie. “Talk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-634909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}