Mulai Saat Ini Segalanya Akan Berubah

As democratic reforms swept Indonesia in the late ‘90s, the nation’s young generation asked themselves: what does it mean to be free? One man and one woman desire the freedom to be themselves, even if it means living outside traditional norms and roles.

Torn between familial expectations and their own artistic ambitions, the young man decides to conform and the young woman forges her own path. Fifteen years later, he is a respected physician with a secret Box of Essential Memory, where he keeps the photos, letters, and keepsakes that remind him of who he really is, and she is a struggling photographer, carrying a Box of Unfinished Projects, where she keeps her yet unrealized goals. Through some major changes in their society, they keep reaching out to each other, looking for someone to understand.

Spanning fifteen years and shifting between his and her perspectives, past and present, this short novel recounts the characters’ efforts to break free from the pattern of repeated disappointments and explores what is gained and what is the price to pay when we submit to other people’s expectations and when we keep pursuing our own path.