After Indonesia’s independence, president Sukarno ordered almost all colonial statues in Indonesia to be demolished and street names to be renamed. The past had to be quickly forgotten, so the nation could look forward. In The Netherlands, colonial memorials were preserved and became more and more controversial. The question of how people commemorate in the absence of memorials or in the presence of controversial statues, contributes to the growing debate about our colonial past.

History - Memory - Commemoration is a long-term research project of Dutch Artist Hans van Houwelingen and Iswanto Hartono and Mirwan Andan of the Indonesian artists’ collective ruangrupa. In collaboration with De Balie they are making seven films about specific locations from the colonial history of the Netherlands and Indonesia: Java, Aceh, Nias, the Netherlands, Moluccas, Sulawesi and Papua.

What influence do location, politics, religion, education, family, historiography and the spirit of the time have on the way history is remembered? How is history passed onto future generations? During Movies That Matter, Nest presents the first film of the series - JAVA - recorded in Jakarta.

The screening is followed by a talk with artists Hans van Houwelingen, Iswanto Hartono, Mirwan Andan moderated by Wim Manuhutu.