WHAT DO GHOSTS THINK?
Yuefei You | Netherlands, Indonesia, China 2024 | 32 min. | Kantonesian, Indonesian, English with engl. subtitles
MONDAY, 12.05. | 5 pm
De France, Saal 1 | TICKETS
Part of the Short Film Program ESSA II
Austrian premiere
In presence of Yuefei You
Indonesia is moving its capital to Nusantara, a brand-new city carved out of the forests of Borneo. Anthropology student Yuefei You investigates supernatural stories in the communities surrounding the mega-construction site. In her search, she encounters the residents’ ancestors as well as unexpected ghosts.
WHAT DO GHOSTS THINK? is a cinematic rhapsody about connections between the living and the dead and about pasts and futures. In letters to her mother, Yuefei You searches for answers about the tensions between the local population and the national project that promises prosperity and economic development.
Director: Yuefei You (she/her)
Camera: Yuefei You (she/her)
Editing: Yuefei You (she/her)
Sound: Yuefei You (she/her)
Production: University of Amsterdam
Local collaboration with Ananda Nabilah, Dayah Ayu Pramesti, Dr. Isradi Zainal, Jack Sparrow, Manggala Ismanto, Mei Christy Sengoq, Muhammad Amin, Niken Dwi Sitoningrum, Widy
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Days of Ethnographic Film Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2025)
Freiburger Filmforum, Freiburg, Germany (2025)
Jean Rouch Film Festival, Paris, France (2025)
Regard Bleu Ethnographic Film Festival, Zurich, Switzerland (2025)
Awards: Finalist – Luleå International Film Festival (2025)
BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in a small town of Southern China, Yuefei You holds a MA in visual anthropology from the University of Amsterdam (cum laude). This is her first film, her camera explores how human emotions and imagination are entangled with their environs, both the societies within humanity and those more-than-human.
