The politics of the participatory in Indonesian environmental documentary: The oeuvre of Dandhy Laksono

Abstract

Indonesian documentary filmmaking has been riding the global wave of unprecedented interest in the creation, distribution and viewing of environmental documentaries. One of the frontrunners is investigative journalist and filmmaker Dandhy Laksono (b. 1976). With his production house, Watchdoc, and other collaborators since the late 2000s, he has created an extraordinary quantity of thought-provoking environmental and sociopolitical documentaries, many of which have received millions of views. In addition to public screenings in hundreds of Indonesian villages, the popularity of these documentaries has been driven by their streaming on online platforms, particularly YouTube. I argue that Laks..