Biography

Lucky Kuswandi is one of Indonesia's most exciting young directors. His films have been screened in International festivals worldwide, receiving accolades, awards and distribution. The Wall Street Journal praises his work as "original and uncharted."

His career started in 2006, when he was invited to the Berlinale Talent Campus in Berlin, Germany. It is a forum for young, promising filmmakers. He was selected among more than 6000 applicants around the world. In 2008 he directed a documentary short "Miss or Mrs." as part of the anthology "At Stake". The documentary was screened in the prestigious Berlin Film Festival 2009 at the Panorama Section.

In 2010 he directed his first full-length film "Madame X". The film was nominated for 2 Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong at 2011, and won the Best Film Award at the Copenhagen LGBT Film Festival. It is currently available to stream at Disney Plus.

In 2014, Kuswandi released his second feature film, a love letter to Jakarta titled "In the Absence of the Sun". The film won him the Best Director Award from the Indonesian Film Director's Club. The Straits Times praised the film, calling it "dripping with social commentary, the feature illustrates the contradictions that make up the rich mosaic that is one of Asia's most populous cities." The film is available to stream at Netflix and Amazon Prime.

In 2015, Kuswandi's latest short film, "The Fox Exploits the Tiger's Might", competed at the Cannes Film Festival in the Semaine de la Critique (Critic's Week) Section. The film became the second Indonesian film ever screened in the section, and the first in 26 years. The film won Best Short Film & Best Director at the Silver Screen Awards in Singapore 2015. It also won Lucky his first Piala Citra Award for Best Short Film. The film is available to stream at MUBI.

In 2017, Lucky released his third feature film, "Galih & Ratna", a remake of the infamous Indonesian film "Gita Cinta dari SMA". It is available to stream at Netflix and Disney Plus.

In 2019 he was one of the screenwriters of the Indonesian adaptation of Warner Bros "Gossip Girl". In 2020 he also wrote and plans to direct the second season of the series.

In 2020, Lucky directed his fourth feature film "Ali & Ratu-Ratu Queens" (Ali and the Queens), to be released in 2021

Lucky also works as a film lecturer in Universitas Multimedia Nusantara, teaching film directing. He has given film talks and workshops in various events, including ones held by the Media Development Authority (MDA) Singapore and the Motion Pictures of Association (MPAA).
- IMDb mini biography by: Lucky Kuswandi