Hanny Saputra

Hanny R. Saputra, who was born on 11 May 1965, is an Indonesian director. Salatiga, Central Java was Hanny Saputra’s birthplace. Since childhood, he had a keen interest in movies which later resulted in him getting enrolled in ‘Jakarta Art Institute’ to learn filmmaking. His career started in the entertainment world in Indonesia to become a director in a short film labeled The Old Man (1991). Hanny also made a documentary titled Sitting in Chair Imagination and HB Jassin. In the year 1997, his directorial debut television film Sepanjang Jalan Kenanga came up, which didn’t release because according to the critics, the movie was unrealistically aiming for perfection. Later on, he went on to release his first feature film named ‘Tato’ in 2002.

After taking advice from senior filmmakers like Lo Fen Koei Leo Sutanto, he focused more on commercially viable films. He released Virgin two years later. The movie tells the story of three teenage girls having many transient sexual relationships. After Virgin, Saputra directed ‘Heart’ in 2006 starring Acha Septriasa and Irwansyah which went on to become a huge blockbuster. The following year he made yet another film ‘Love is Cinta’ starring the same couple. In 2009, he directed his first horror film entitled The Real Ghoul. Just a couple of months later, he directed the film Virgin 2. This movie was about how two girls fall into dark professions to do things which are not good. In the following year, he directed the movie Sweetheart. In 2011, Saputra was called upon to direct the religious drama ‘Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah’ after its previous director left the movie halfway.

The film bases on the novel ‘Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah’ written by Hamka. He distorted facts from the source so much that Makbul Mubarak of The Jakarta Post said that he seemed to have only used the starting and ending of the book. Consequently, this film was sent to the 84th Oscar Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. His career in the movie industry was giving recognition to Indonesia. Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan got 8 Vidia Awards and was the Best Film in the Indonesian Sinetron Festival. As of August 2011, Saputra has directed ten films. Hanny Saputra was really proud, as he was the only Indonesian director whose movie went to Academy awards. Rizal Iwan, writing for The Jakarta column, calls Saputra "a seriously talented filmmaker, who is somehow stuck with bad scripts."