JAKARTA, July 21, 2025 – Visinema, the storytelling platform that recently made waves with the animated hit Jumbo, today announced the most ambitious and challenging film in its history: The Java War, which will portray the story of Prince Diponegoro’s resistance. Produced by Visinema Pictures and directed by Visinema’s Founder and CEO, Angga Dwimas Sasongko, the film will also have Gita Wirjawan as its executive producer.
Scheduled for production in 2027, The Java War promises an extraordinary creative vision: an epic scale, magnificent world-building, and a visual and narrative approach full of surprises. This film will bring to life a monumental story that is not only important for Indonesia but also for Southeast Asia as a whole.
“Through The Java War, we are taking on a new challenge — an epic war story rooted in the land of Java, with cinematic scale and intensity comparable to global epic films,” said Angga Dwimas Sasongko, Visinema’s Founder and director of The Java War. “We want to create a world, tell stories visually, and build an immersive experience so that audiences can feel the intensity of this war through a distinctly Indonesian perspective. This aligns with our vision to be a game-changer for Indonesian cinema.”
The idea to bring this story to the screen first came from Gita Wirjawan, host and executive producer of the popular show Endgame, who will also serve as executive producer of The Java War. He said, “Diponegoro did not fight for a throne but for dignity, belief, cultural heritage, and sovereignty. To me, this is a deeply human and monumental story. Through The Java War, we want to revive the values embedded in Diponegoro’s story through cinema. Hopefully, presented in an exciting and epic way, this story can reach not only Indonesia but the world.”
The Java War marks Visinema’s latest creative step following the extraordinary success of Jumbo — Indonesia’s highest-grossing film and a milestone for Southeast Asian animation. The film will be produced by Taufan Adryan with a screenplay written by Ifan Ismail, a Citra Award-winning writer, in collaboration with Peter Carey, a world-renowned historian on Diponegoro and author of The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785–1855. The project is currently in development and slated to enter production in 2027.
“The Diponegoro War is one of the most essential episodes in Southeast Asian history because it marks a turning point in the anti-colonial movement. Yet, it has never been brought to the screen on a cinematic scale worthy of the story,” said Peter Carey, historian and consultant for The Java War. “Through this film, we can revive the essence of Prince Diponegoro: a brave leader with high ideals and spirituality. He was also a war commander and an early symbol of anti-colonial consciousness. I believe this story will resonate strongly with today’s generation—not only in Indonesia but from a global perspective.”
This announcement coincides with the 200th anniversary of the start of the Diponegoro War, which began on July 20, 1825, when the colonial government imposed road construction on Prince Diponegoro’s ancestral land. This action sparked one of the bloodiest and most decisive wars in Southeast Asian history.
Visinema is known as a studio that dares to take bold and different steps. With Jumbo, Visinema made history as Indonesia’s highest-attended film of all time. Previously, Visinema also introduced the heist genre through the blockbuster Mencuri Raden Saleh and the action film 13 Bom di Jakarta, both directed by Angga Sasongko.
Further information will be announced on the official account @Visinemaid.
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