Edition 24: 1–9 August, 2025

VIEW FROM THE WORLD

Position Among the Stars

Stand van de Sterren

Netherlands
2010 — 111' / Color

1

Synopsis

For 12 years, filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich followed an Indonesian family from the slums of Jakarta. This resulted in the trilogy “Stand van de zon”, “Stand van de maan” and “Stand van de sterren” (“Eye of the Day”, “Shape of the Moon” “Position Among the Stars”). Just like in the previous two parts, which received many international prizes, in the third part “Position Among the Stars” the maker shows us the underlying patterns of life in Indonesia. The Indonesian Sjamsuddin family is, in a way, a microcosm in which you can recognise the most important issues of life in Indonesia: corruption, conflict between religions, gambling addiction, the generation gap and the growing difference between poor and rich.

Director Biography

Born in 1959. He finished the Netherlands Film Academy in 1986 as a fiction director of the short fiction film called De Drenkeling (The Drowning Man). He made his debut with the feature film The Phoenix Mystery in 1990. His documentary Moving Objects (1991) has won several prizes at International film festivals.

Director

Leonard Retel Helmrich

Producer

Hetty Naaijkens

Retel Helmrich

Cinematographer

Leonard Retel Helmrich

Editor

Jasper Naaijkens

Sound

Ranko Pauković

Contact

Diana Holtzberg,
Films Transit International, Inc.
+1 (212) 614-2808
[email protected]