re:assemblage collective

Mayday! May day! Mayday!

Directed by Yonri Soesanto Revolt
Indonesia · 2022 · 66'00

In early 2017, the mining corporation ‘Freeport Indonesia’ laid off several thousand workers from its Grasberg copper mine in Mimika Regency, Indonesia. The miners demonstrated on May Day, inaugurating what would become one of the longest strikes of the 21st century, continuing for over five years. Despite being nationalized in 2018, the company has refused to recognize the strike, denying workers access to public healthcare and thus causing the death of 97 people.

Yonri Revolt’s politically committed documentary Mayday! May day! Mayday! is a sincere record of the strike told from the point of view of its participants. Combining reportage, talking-head interviews and archival footage, the filmmaker crafts a lyrical portrait of lives in suspension. We see the workers—mostly ethnic Papuans—take up alternate employment to make ends meet, even as they keep up the strike in the face of corporate indifference and police clampdown. (Srikanth Srinivasan)

Filmmaker, writer and journalist Yonri REVOLT has developed several documentaries and citizen journalism projects with Yoikatra Community, a collective he founded based in Timika, Papua. They include Mama Amamapare (2016) winner of Best Short Documentary at the Indonesian Film Festival. His most recent film, Mayday! May Day! Mayday! (2022) has its international premiere at IFFR 2023