Sidi Saleh

In his early days as a cinematographer, Sidi got involved in several film productions, Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon, Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly (also worked as the film producer), and Kebun Binatang (International title: Postcards from the Zoo). Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon won an award as The Best Short Film in the 2005 Indonesian Film Festival. Furthermore, it also became the only Indonesian film passed the Director's Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) selection at Cannes Film Festival in the same year.[4][5][6] In addition to the above achievement, Blind Pig who Wants to Fly also won a prestigious award from FIPRESCI at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2009[7] while Postcard From The Zoo competed in the main competition at Berlinale Film Festival in 2012.[8]

Sidi's directorial debut began in 2011 with Full Moon, one of the segments in the film titled Belkibolang. Other films he directed, Fitri, included in the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand in 2014.[9] His hard toil wasn't for nothing as Maryam, a carefully crafted story of a Muslim stuck in the ritual of another religion with someone who has autism while she is experiencing a difficult inner pressure herself, won Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film in The Venice Film Festival[10] or Venice International Film Festival (Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale"), founded in 1932 by Giuseppe Volpi. This is the oldest film festival in the world and one of the "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival and he became the first Indonesian film maker ever winning an award from one of the prestigious and the oldest film festivals in Europe.[11]