The Last Boutmen (2017)

Since 1950, boat transportation has been navigating Ambon's bay and carrying passengers from Galala Village to Poka Village, as well as connecting two important islands on Ambon, Leihitu and Leitimur. Some documentations of Woodbury and Page around 1870 even described the crowded beach of Ambon, loaded with boats, raw sago and firewood transactions. In April 2016, Jokowi inaugurated the Mega Project of Jembatan Merah Putih. This longest bridge in eastern Indonesia has drains more than 700 billion of funds of state budget revenues. Under this magnificent bridge, Arif (56 years old) with 200 other family heads rowed boats. Arif hung his income on rowing boats. However, since the bridge was officially opened to the public, his income dropped dramatically, so do the other boatman. Many of these boatmen choose another job because rowing no longer guarantees to make their ends meet. Arif chose gardening while still rowing the boat. For him, being a boatman also means to preserving the culture and the glory of maritime in Indonesia that has existed since long time ago. Slowly, the number of boatmen continues to decline. All that remains is the last boatmen who tried to keep one of the oldest modes of transportation on Ambon Island. This documentary tries to portray a minor story about the pseudo-advancement that the government is making but in the end makes the small community miserable.