“Yuni”, an Indonesian film directed by Kamila Andini, won the Platform Prize in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2021 on Sunday (19 September).

Platform Prize is an award presented to a film that the film festival body described as having “high artistic merit that also demonstrates a strong directorial vision.” Introduced in 2015, the awardees are selected by a team of jurors consisting of critically acclaimed international filmmakers or actors. This year, the award-winning actor and rapper Riz Ahmed is appointed as the president of the Platform Jury.

Quoted from her husband’s Instagram post, Kamila said in her speech:

"I remember the first time I was here in 2015 with my short film. And it's been my third time bringing a heroine in the cinema and TIFF, so it's unbelievable. I cannot believe this. But I think I see this as a hope. These are for the voices of women in Indonesia who haven't been heard. And these are for every woman in Indonesia and in the world who has been fighting, struggling over the years, finding, trying to find their own liberation. I thank you for all the crews, casts, producers, partners, everyone who's been standing by with me pushing boundaries. So thank you. This is not only Indonesian wins, it's Southeast Asian wins. So thank you so much!" 

“Yuni” is a film about the title character played by Arawinda Kirana, a teenager who likes the colour purple and treasures her group of friends. She has a vision to go to university. However, she became the talk of society as she rejected a proposal by a man she barely knew, as well as a second proposal. She is faced with a local myth; that a girl who rejects marriage proposals more than two times will not get married. Then, the third proposal came.

Kamila Andini is the first director to be presented twice in TIFF’s Platform Prize competition In 2017, her film “Sekala Niskala” (The Seen and The Unseen) was shortlisted for the award. The film visited a Balinese mythology to explore how children deal with the mysteries of life and death.