Horror Film ‘The Land of Jinn’ Is First Indonesia-Kyrgyzstan Co-Production, Unveiled at Tokyo Gap-Financing Market

Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan have made their first film together. “The Land of Jinn,” a supernatural horror feature directed by Kevin Rahardjo (“Smothered”), was unveiled at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market as the first co-production between the two countries.

The story centers on a young Indonesian woman who journeys to Kyrgyzstan in search of a mystical healer who might save the baby she is carrying. Along the way, she unwittingly ties her child’s destiny to the jinn that roam the region. The film draws on the story of King Solomon, said in legend to have commanded the jinn.

Makbul Mubarak (“Autobiography”) and Tumpal Tampubolon (“Crocodile Tears”) wrote the screenplay.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the lengths someone might go to in pursuit of what society tells us is a ‘complete’ life, and what drew me to this project was the chance to translate that desire into the language of horror,” Rahardjo said.

The journey takes the protagonist to Kyrgyzstan’s frozen, snowbound mountains. “The landscape is more than a backdrop. It becomes part of her obsession, beautiful and unforgiving, and almost indifferent to human desire,” Rahardjo said.

Cameras rolled in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region and in Jakarta. The film, in English, Indonesian and Kyrgyz, is now in post-production, with a release planned for 2027.

Yulia Evina Bhara and Amerta Kusuma produce for Jakarta-based KawanKawan Media, while Sultan Pirzhan and Elvira Sarieva of FreeMinds and Maksat Bolotbek of Bairak Group produce on the Kyrgyz side.

“I think fear is universal, but ghosts are local,” Bhara said.

She noted that people in both countries live alongside the unseen world, and that children in each grow up hearing their grandparents’ warnings not to venture out after Maghrib, the sunset prayer. “In Indonesia we have 17,000 islands and 17,000 ghosts. In Kyrgyzstan, the mountains and steppes have their own Jinns,” she said.

She pointed to the complementary strengths of the two industries, with Kyrgyzstan offering auteur talent, unspoiled scenery and a door into markets across Central Asia and Eurasia, and Indonesia bringing a proven horror market, a 65% local market share and a profitable model for the genre.

“This project was an incredible start to what will hopefully be a long lasting creative collaboration between Indonesian and Kyrgyz filmmakers,” Sarieva said.

Also on board as a producer and delegate is Nazira C. Noer, CEO and co-founder of film marketing and publicity firm Poplicist, whose clients have included “Jumbo,” “Agak Laen” and “Ghost in the Cell.” She is also Navvaros Entertainment’s chief marketing officer and serves as secretary general of the Indonesian Film Agency.

In Tokyo, the producers want to find partners to close the film’s financing gap and handle distribution, with the goal of locking in pre-sales or a festival route for 2027. Bhara also hopes to present the film as a template for co-productions within Asia.

Rahardjo’s next project is a creature feature unfolding in a countryside village in Indonesia.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market runs as part of TIFFCOM, the content market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival.