Arifin C. Noer

Who was Arifin C. Noer?

Arifin Chairin Noer, commonly known as Arifin C. Noer is an Indonesian poet, theater director and highly successful film producer.

Noer studied Civil Administration at the University of Cokroaminoto in Yogyakarta, Central Java and began his theatrical career in the early 1960s as an actor in a study group in Central Java with W.S. Rendra. After finishing his degree in 1967, Noer moved to Jakarta and founded Teater Ketjil, a laboratory where he and other actors could experiment using the workshop model that emphasizing the whole person as introduced by W.S. Rendra, but Noer was focused on cultivating acting skills. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Noer was a prolific playwright and director from the 1970s until his death in 1995, directing all of his original plays including his best-known work, Kapai-Kapai in 1970.

Noer's screenplays have won numerous awards, including Pemberang which won the Golden Harvest trophy for Best Dialog at the Film Festival Asia in 1972 and Rio Anakku, Melawan Badai, Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI, and Taksi received Citra awards at the Indonesian Film Festival and translations of his plays have appeared in several languages, including English, French, Swedish and Chinese.