In June 2024, Netflix released Nightmares And Daydreams, an original series by local film-maker Joko Anwar. JAKARTA – In an achievement for Indonesia’s creative industry, heavy metal band Voice of Baceprot (VoB) has become the country’s first music act to play at the prestigious Glastonbury Festival in England. Being able to perform on the same stage as English pop-rock band Coldplay and pop music stars like Dua Lipa was a dream come true for the three hijab-clad VoB members, in their 20s, who formed the band in 2014.
The milestone is just the latest by artists in Indonesia, who are lighting up the global scene in the genres of television, music, gaming and comic books, as the government intensifies efforts to nurture the high-potential creative industry. The creative economy has been growing, with the sector amounting to 1.3 trillion rupiah (S$107.
8 million) in 2023, an increase from the 1.28 trillion rupiah in 2022 and 1.19 trillion rupiah in 2021.
Earlier in June, streaming giant Netflix released Nightmares And Daydreams, an original series by local film-maker Joko Anwar, which has made it to most-watched lists not just in the archipelago, but also in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. The seven-episode show, which is a collection of supernatural and science-fiction stories, has been compared to the works of American producer Jordan Peele who made the horror movies Us and Get Out, as well as Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro, famous for works like Th.