Better Off Dead

Gema is an awkward young man who has felt invisible for most of his life. When his estranged father dies, he is shocked to finally receive attention from the colleagues he has worked with for years. When their warmth starts to fade, he is left to wonder: how can he keep their sympathies? As he plots dramatic ways to keep hold of their connections, he finds himself caught in a web of lies and is forced to confront what friendships are truly built on.

Kristo Immanuel’s debut feature—the grand winner of Best Film and Best Director at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival—is an absurd comedy that speaks to the urban loneliness of our times with humour and lightness. Shot with a refreshing, unconventional tone, the film breaks the fourth wall and brings audiences into Gema’s inner world, at its core a deeply relatable portrait of a young man desperate to feel seen in a disconnected world.