Slave Island
On the Indonesian island of Sumba even children are bound to serve and die with their masters.
Born of a collaboration between Belgium, Estonia, Italy, and Taiwan, this cinematic documentary is both a portrait of Indonesia’s Sumba and a mirror to humanity’s darkest hierarchies. On this remote island, time seems suspended between myth and reality. Here, slavery is not a relic of the past but a living tradition, bound to ancestral rites and passed through generations. Through the gaze of local activist Jeremy Kewuan, we encounter a world where the sudden disappearance of an eight-year-old enslaved girl casts a haunting shadow. Her fate seems inseparable from the island’s most terrifying belief: that slaves must follow their masters into death, buried alive beside them. The camera moves through vast skies, sacred rituals, and intimate silences, contrasting the island’s natural beauty with the cruelty concealed within its customs. As Jeremy risks his life to give voice to the silenced, his journey confronts us with an urgent question: what does freedom cost when tradition resists?
Jimmy Hendrickx is a Belgian documentary filmmaker. He holds a Master’s in Visual Arts from the School of Arts in Ghent, where he also taught editing. He has spent over a decade working in Southeast Asia, creating socially engaged documentaries. He is now teaching Film at the Kunstacademie Laeken in Brussels. His short film “Semalu” (2013) won several awards and was screened at dozens of festivals. His documentary “A Punk Daydream” (2019) – a portrait of the largest Muslim Punk community in the world, as seen through the eyes of Punk teenagers – premiered at IFFR Rotterdam.
Filmography:
A Hong Kong Opera (2014), Lamunan Oi! (A Punk Daydream, 2019, doc, co-dir), The Making of Memories for the Future (2021, doc), Slave Island (2025, doc, co-dir)
Jeremy Kewuan is a native of the island of Flores in Indonesia. He has been a human rights activist for many years, and holds a university degree in law. Jeremy was disappointed with various NGOs on the matter of human trafficking, and decided to follow his own path. “Slave Island” (2025) is his first feature film. He has experience as a photographer, poet, and videographer.
Filmography:
Slave Island (2025, doc, co-dir)