Sofia W.D.

Director & actor · born 12 October 1924 · Bandung, Indonesia

During the Japanese occupation, she attended Andjar Asmara's theater school. In 1948, she made her film debut in Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitaroem, using the name Sofia Waldy. After a divorce from first husband S. Waldy, she married actor W.D. Mochtar and began professionally using the name Sofia W.D., starting in 1964. Not just an award-winning actress of both stage and screen who appeared in well over 100 films, Sofia also became one of Indonesia's first female directors with 1962's Badai-Selatan ("Southern Storm"), a horror tale that was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. She produced, wrote and even operated the camera on a number of films, and was the director of the production companies Film Capital, Libra Film and Dirgahayu Jaya Film over the course of her busy and prolific career.

Where to start: Fighting the Storm (1974).