The Legend
Bestiary is a psychological drama about dreams left unfinished, the roles we choose to play, and the monsters that emerge when ambition and grief become indistinguishable from one another. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Indonesia, the film follows a struggling actor whose long-abandoned aspirations are suddenly reignited by an opportunity that feels destined for him. What begins as a second chance gradually becomes a descent into obsession, forcing him to confront the parts of himself he has spent years trying to ignore.
At once intimate and unsettling, Bestiary is ultimately a story about what it means to chase greatness and what we may lose in the process.
The Premise
Reyes Huang has built a quiet life for himself. A loving wife. A stable career. A home beside the river. Then a door opens. An old friend returns with an invitation to audition for the latest film of the celebrated and elusive filmmaker Guido Fellini. For Reyes, it feels less like an opportunity than a calling.
As he immerses himself in the role of a mythical beast, the boundaries between actor and character slowly begin to dissolve. The performance becomes a ritual. The film becomes a labyrinth. The monster begins to look back.
The Logline
A struggling actor receives the opportunity of a lifetime when he is cast as a monster in an enigmatic film, only to find himself gradually consumed by the role and the mysterious director guiding him toward it.
Tone & Style
Bestiary unfolds as an intimate psychological drama that slowly slips into something stranger. The film moves between naturalism and dream, between memory and invention. Long takes, silences, and moments of stillness allow the emotional lives of its characters to reveal themselves gradually. The extraordinary is never announced. It quietly emerges from within the ordinary.
The film is interested in thresholds. The place between grief and desire. Between performance and truth. Between the person we are and the person we could have become.
Location & Authenticity
The film is deeply rooted in Indonesia. Its rivers, forests, modest homes, and crowded streets are not settings to be observed from a distance. They are lived spaces, carrying histories and unspoken memories of their own.
Though the story speaks of ambition and artistic obsession, its emotional landscape remains unmistakably Indonesian. It belongs to a generation caught between contentment and longing, between duty and the persistent feeling that another life might still be waiting somewhere beyond the horizon.
Welcome to Bestiary
A legend is never contained within a single page. Beyond this point are the faces, places, and memories that shaped Bestiary. The people who carried it. The characters who inhabit it. The traces it leaves behind.
Take your time. Every legend reveals itself differently.
Team
Cast
