The first trailer for Sleep No More, the Berlinale-bound Indonesian horror feature that marks filmmaker Edwin’s latest overseas foray, has been released.
Produced by Parali Films in collaboration with Asian and European co-production partners, the feature-length film, titled “Monster Pavlik Rambut” in Indonesian, fuses social realism and the horror genre, centering on the exploitation and physical exhaustion of workers in factories pushed to inhumane extreme conditions.
“Sleep No More” follows the lives of factory workers Putri and Aida as they begin to fall apart due to the appearance of a shadowy figure who preys on workers who are deprived of rest. As exhaustion mounts, the boundaries between waking life and possessions collapse, forcing the women to confront both supernatural threats and a system that thrives on sleeplessness.
The film is directed by Edwin, whose previous films include Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly, which won the Rotterdam International Film Critics Award, and Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, which won the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival in 2021.
“Sleep No More” is an international co-production spanning Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Germany and France, led by Parali Films and Beacon Films on the Indonesian side, and co-produced by Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures, Japan’s Hassak Lab, Germany’s In Good Company and France’s Apsara Films. The film is produced by Meiske Taurisia and Muhammad Zaidi, and co-produced by Anthony Chen, Theo Yi-Peng, Atsuko Ohno, Terutaro Osanai, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Roshanak Behesht Nejad, and Marin Arrighi de Casanova.
World sales will be handled by South Korea’s Showbox.
In a director’s statement, Edwin describes the film as an attempt to combine horror, dark comedy, and surreal fantasy while confronting labor exploitation and inhumane working conditions. “People are expected to grow parts of their bodies to survive long periods of slavery,” he says, positioning the film’s horror not as mere metaphor but as an extension of lived reality.
“Sleep No More” will be screened in the Berlinale Special Midnight section at the 76th Berlin Film Festival.
Watch the trailer here:
