Nan Triveni Achnas

“In countries like South Korea, like Iran, there’s always some money from the government to make films that are not really for the mainstream market. That is not available here (Indonesia). I make films not purely for the mainstream market (so) I get my funding outside.”

"Everybody is asking, 'Do you have a problem being a women filmmaker?' And I say: 'No, should I?' Apparently, there is this brand of feminism saying, 'Do you know why you do not have a problem? Because you are still ... because the system is still not at the stage where men dominate. But when men dominate an industry then you will have problems.' Then I say, 'So far as you know, we are talking about a vacuum of 10 years, where nobody made films and now most of the decision-makers are women.' So there has been no discrimination, nothing." (2013)

Achnas' admits being against anti-pornography law. This statement was made in regards to the Bill against Pornography and Pornoaction that was passed in Indonesia in 2008.

Achnas first got noticed in 1995 with her short film The Little Gayo Singer. She went forward to direct 5 other films, one of which she also undertook the role of producer (Bendera, 2002). Nan Achnas, together with Mira Lesmana, an independent producer and director, were actively part of a self-aware film movement regarding the participation of women in film. The movement began through the experimental film, Kuldesak (1998), which they collectively produced near the beginning of Achnas' career.

Born in Singapore in 1963, she grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Achnas graduated from the Faculty of Film and Television at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts. She also completed a master's degree in Film Studies at the University of East Anglia in 1996 where she was a Chevening Scholar. While graduating from the University of East Anglia, she directed a film entitled The Only Day (1988) as her diploma film. It won the Grand Prix at the Asian Young Cinema Film Festival in Tokyo. When she is not directing films, Achnas' teaches film at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts which is the main film school in Indonesia.