Narrative Short Film · Completed Film · 2017
A short film inspired partly by real events, exploring leadership, authority, service, and everyday tensions within a small local church congregation.
About the Film
Leadership inside a Small Congregation
Hikmat dari Boss is a narrative short film set within the everyday life of a small church congregation.
The film observes relationships between leaders, church workers, and ordinary members. It examines how authority is exercised, how decisions affect other people, and how the idea of service can become distorted when leadership is centred on status and control.
Several scenes were developed from events that had occurred in real congregational life.
Logline
Inside a small church congregation, the actions of an influential leader expose the distance between authority, wisdom, and the true meaning of service.
Synopsis
When Authority Is Mistaken for Wisdom
The story unfolds within a congregation where leadership positions carry significant influence over activities, relationships, and the lives of church members.
An individual regarded as a “boss” becomes the centre of decisions and interactions. His authority shapes the behaviour of those around him, while other members must navigate hierarchy, loyalty, pressure, and their responsibility to the congregation.
The film gradually reveals the difference between possessing a position and having wisdom. Leadership may appear strong from the outside, but it loses its spiritual and social meaning when it silences others, creates fear, or places personal interests above collective service.
Through situations drawn partly from real experiences, the film invites viewers to reflect on how churches and youth organisations understand authority, accountability, and care.
Core Idea
A position can provide authority, but it does not automatically provide wisdom.
Leadership gains meaning when it is practised as responsibility, humility, listening, and service to the community.
Power and Service
Questioning the Figure of the “Boss”
The word “boss” usually refers to a person who gives instructions and expects others to follow. Within church life, however, leadership is expected to be grounded in service rather than domination.
The film uses this tension to question forms of leadership that reproduce social hierarchy inside religious institutions.
It asks whether a leader is guiding the congregation toward collective growth, or merely protecting personal authority and influence.
Stories from Congregational Life
Fiction Rooted in Real Experience
Several scenes in Hikmat dari Boss were inspired by real situations.
These experiences were transformed into fiction so the film could speak more broadly about problems that may occur in different congregations: closed decision-making, misuse of authority, unequal relationships, and the difficulty of questioning influential figures.
The film does not present one congregation as an isolated problem. It uses a local setting to open a wider reflection on organisational and church life.
The Small Congregation
A Close Social Space
In a small congregation, people usually know one another closely. Worship, family relationships, leadership, friendship, and conflict frequently occupy the same social space.
This closeness can strengthen solidarity, but it can also make unequal power more difficult to question. The film uses this setting to observe how individual decisions can affect an entire community.
Collaborative Production
Created through Church and Film Communities
Hikmat dari Boss was produced through collaboration among CTC, KPR PP KGPM, Maahury Pictures, and Wuisan Felem.
The production brought together church youth, theatre practitioners, and local filmmakers to develop a story based on situations familiar within congregational life.
This collaborative approach allowed film to become both a creative work and a medium for internal reflection.
Pre-Screening
KGPM Kalvari Lopana
The film was presented in a pre-screening at KGPM Kalvari Lopana in Amurang.
The event introduced the film to a local church audience before its complete public screening during the KGPM Youth Day celebration.
Public Screening
KGPM Youth Day 2017
The complete film was screened on 14 February 2017 during the KGPM Youth Day celebration at Graha Gubernuran.
The screening placed the film directly before the church youth community whose organisational and spiritual life formed the wider context of its story.
Project Information
Film Details
Title
Hikmat dari Boss
Format
Narrative short film
Year
2017
Story setting
A small local church congregation
Source of inspiration
Fictional story incorporating scenes inspired by real events
Production collaboration
CTC · KPR PP KGPM · Maahury Pictures · Wuisan Felem
Pre-screening venue
KGPM Kalvari Lopana, Amurang
Public screening
14 February 2017 · KGPM Youth Day
Public screening venue
Graha Gubernuran