Edwin on Sleep No More: Work, Fear, and 80s Horror Aesthetics at the Berlinale
Edwin describes “Sleep No More” as a horror film without ghosts, where the true source of fear comes from modern working conditions and the unsettling anonymity of labor.
Indonesian directorEdwin is set to unveil his latest feature, “Sleep No More,” at theBerlin International Film Festival, marking his first foray into horror while continuing his exploration of socially grounded storytelling. The film arrives as a five-country co-production between Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and France, developed over nearly three years through an intensive collaborative process with partners including cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa and producer Antony Chen.
Sleep No More is screening atBerlin International Film Festival
Speaking ahead of the world premiere, Edwin described the project as emerging from a simple but unsettling question:what is the fear of modern days? Rather than turning to Indonesia’s rich reservoir of supernatural folklore, the director chose to avoid ghosts altogether. Instead, “Sleep No More” situates its horror within the everyday reality of labor, job insecurity, and exploitation.
The idea took shape after Edwin completed a Netflix production and felt, together with his producers, the urge to return to filmmaking intended primarily for the cinema. With horror dominating Indonesian box office trends, the genre offered an opportunity not only to reach audiences but also to experiment formally. Working again with writer Eka Kurniawan, though this time on an original script rather than an adaptation, the two sought to craft a story where fear arises from recognizable social conditions rather than myth.
This approach led to the unusual setting of a wig and prosthetics factory. For Edwin, hair was a visually evocative starting point — synthetic yet strangely lifelike. The concept expanded into a production space filled with mannequins and artificial body parts, a metaphor for workers who often do not know the final purpose of what they produce. The factory becomes an unsettling reflection of modern labor, where meaning is obscured and human presence feels gradually replaced by artificial forms.
Despite combining horror, family drama, and social commentary, Edwin notes that the structure was not calculated but grew organically from the theme of fear. The story follows three siblings forced into factory work to repay a debt, characters deliberately designed to feel out of place in their environment. Casting focused on very young actors, the youngest Edwin has worked with, bringing an additional layer of vulnerability to the narrative.
Visually, “Sleep No More” draws heavily from 1980s Indonesian horror, particularly films starring Suzzanna such as “Ratu Ilmu Hitam,” alongside Japanese and Hong Kong genre cinema of the same era. Edwin also cites the influence ofJohn Carpenter, especially in the use of practical effects. Around 90 percent of the film’s horror elements were achieved during shooting through prosthetics, fake blood, and physical set pieces, with CGI kept to a minimum.
Edwin views the current state of Indonesian cinema as particularly fertile, driven by young audiences flocking to theaters and a vibrant festival culture exemplified by JAFF. While acknowledging Netflix’s positive role in expanding opportunities for filmmakers, he maintains that theatrical viewing remains the preferred experience for Indonesian audiences, describing cinema as more accessible, communal, and engaging.
In “Sleep No More,” Edwin channels this moment in Indonesian cinema into a horror film that replaces supernatural threats with something more immediate and relatable: the anxiety of work, the loss of agency, and the quiet dread of not knowing whether one’s labor has meaning. As the film premieres in Berlin, it signals both a genre shift for the director and a continuation of his interest in stories where social realities produce their own forms of terror.
Panos Kotzathanasis
Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India. Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course. Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.
