This "entertainment with a message" extends to the annual Indonesian Film Festival (FFI), which has recently become a battleground for discussions on censorship and artistic freedom. The current generation of artists is pushing back against the "Piagam Penulisan Skenario" (Screenwriting Charter)—a government guideline that previously banned stories involving "negative values"—demanding the right to depict the grittier, flawed reality of modern Indonesia.
Anwar proved that Indonesian horror could be cerebral, visually stunning, and commercially viable. This paved the way for the country’s biggest cultural export in recent years: (2022) and "Siksa Kubur" (2024).