Sardono W. Kusumo

As a result of the civil war in Majapahit, the Queen Mother fled to Ampel escorted by Mahesa Kicak. There happened to be gathered saints. The Queen Mother asked those who still have close links with the Majapahit, can restore the honor of Majapahit. Sunan Ampel explained, that padepokannya built just to spread Islam.

A group of Javanese villagers are driven to revolt against the Dutch colonialists in this historical drama, which revolves around the themes of loyalty and treachery.

Sri is a village girl married to Hendro, a 70-year old Javanese aristocrat. When Hendro falls ill, she has to nurse him back to health and negotiates with the God of Death not to take him away.

A man violates his village's law by seducing and abandoning his childhood sweetheart. Exiled to Jakarta, he learns to love and respect those in the red light district, causing him to return home in an effort to make amends.

The people of Teges Village in Bali practiced Kecak Rina, a traditional dance they have never done before. Sardono and his colleagues came to the village as their mentors. The villagers were divided into groups. The atmosphere brings up unexpected emotions among them when the first rehearsal took place.

The Sorceress of Dirah is an experimental performance event of Balinese dances and legends, developed by the Javanese performance artist and choreographer, Sardono W. Kusuma, and restaged over many years, working with a group in the village of Teges in Bali. Presented widely in Europe and the USA in the mid-1970s, a film version of The Sorceress of Dirah was filmed in 35mm colour by Sardono working in Bali in 1992 with American cinematographer/ director Bob Chappell. Sardono uses a voice-over in English to introduce the various stages of his drama, but does not subtitle the incantations and utterances of the participants, in order to subject the audience to the full impact of his drama, wherein language is subordinate to the hypnotic, near hallucinatory, and at times frenzied, spell of the images.