BRATTLEBORO — On Friday, July 23, at 6 p.m., a restaurant event by the Indonesian pop-up Kaki Lima will precede a screening of Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), a feminist tale of vigilante justice that was only the fourth Indonesian film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
The dinner and screening will take place in the parking lot of the arts organization Epsilon Spires at 190 Main St.
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts tells the story of a young widow who exacts revenge on the band of men who rob and assault her in her home in rural Indonesia. The film, which was shot during the dry season in a region of the country that resembles the deserts of the American West, draws stylistic influence from the Italian “spaghetti westerns” of the 1960s and 1970s - albeit with a distinctly feminist twist.
“I love the film's message about women's struggle every day in a male-dominated society,” chef Retno Pratiwi of Kaki Lima said in a news release.
Pratiwi considers Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts to be one of her favorite Indonesian movies of all time.
“The female characters are strong, always in a survivalist mode,” she said. “Those skills and instincts are passed on through generations, making women instinctively creative and brave.”
Kaki Lima is designing an elaborate multi-course Indonesian meal made from local ingredients for the event, which is inspired by the cuisine where the film is set.
“My partner and I traveled to that part of Indonesia when we were researching recipes,” says Pratiwi, adding that “the film is beautifully shot, and really captures the spirit of that region.”
Authenticity is key to the food that Kaki Lima serves, which can result in interesting challenges in parts of the world where traditional Indonesian ingredients are not readily available.
“We always source our ingredients locally, which can often dictate what the final menu looks like. But it will always taste unmistakably Indonesian,” says Pratiwi.
Kaki Lima creates the taste of Indonesia through bringing special, hard-to-find spices with them when they travel for pop-ups, and finding “local ingredients that are similar to those in Indonesia, or that can be combined to mimic the flavors,” says Pratiwi.
She adds that when Kaki Lima arrives in a new place for an event, they visit local farms to “get an understanding of the bounty of the place, and then try our best to incorporate local ingredients into the Indonesian flavor.”
The evening is part of the ongoing Backlot Cinema Series hosted by Epsilon Spires, which presents an eclectic array of current and classic films under the stars every Friday night throughout the summer. It is the first installment of the series to feature a dinner paired thematically with the film.
Tickets for the dinner and screening are sold separately, and drinks will be available for purchase throughout the evening.
To buy tickets for the dinner ($50 per person), visit Kaki Lima's website at kakilimanyc.com/events. Spots for the dinner are limited.
Tickets for all Backlot Cinema screenings can be purchased for $10 at epsilonspires.org/backlotcinema.