Stories of Recovery, 10 Years After the Tsunami

With last year being the 10th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, USAID wanted to mark the occasion by producing a short film in Aceh to “remember the lives lost, honour the survivors, salute the heroes, and reflect on the power of the human spirit.”

They commissioned Jakarta-based Australian filmmaker Jolyon Hoff for the project, based on his proposal to avoid overt donor messaging and produce the video as a short documentary featuring Acehnese survivors of the tsunami telling their stories their way.

The result is a moving and visually striking account by survivors who describe the frightening reality of the event and the years that followed. This 25-minute film really highlights the potential a documentary can have to communicate aid messages while still standing as a powerful work in its own right.

Hoff filmed the short documentary over 11 days in Aceh, accompanied by a very capable, and entirely Indonesian, crew of 7 sourced from Jakarta and Aceh.

Conventional wisdom might suggest shooting a film like this on a small DSLR to allow maximum portability and agility. But Hoff opted for going with a larger high-quality RedOne digital cinema camera, sourced from Focused Equipment in Jakarta.

“I felt the smaller cameras would be too trivial for this film. It was heavy though, which prompted me to be more thoughtful and respectful in my approach. I think you can see that in the footage. In return, the interviewees saw me setting up this big serious looking camera and gave me respect as well. I think it helped them to open up about such an emotional subject. They felt like this film was going to take their stories seriously.“

The majority of post-production was also carried out in Indonesia, on a turnaround time of 8 weeks, which is tight for a project of this length and complexity.

The film was shown in Jakarta through December and January at an exhibition called “Build Back Better” reflecting on life in Aceh 10 years after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and has since been widely viewed on USAID’s website and USAID Indonesia’s YouTube channel. It was also screened for Indonesia’s outgoing president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as part of the commemorations and it is being considered inclusion in the permanent exhibition of the Tsunami Museum in Aceh.