I’ve been keeping an eye on Whispers of Fatimah, partly because the Indonesian horror scene keeps coming up with films that dig into local legends rather than just giving us another generic haunted-house story, but also because this one is doing something technically pretty unusual.
The film, officially titled Bisikan Desa Gringsing: Whispers of Fatimah, is directed and written by Ivander Tedjasukmana, and it has the rather unusual distinction of being one of the first Indonesian horror features made using virtual production technology and an LED volumetric stage.
It is scheduled to open in Indonesian cinemas on September 24, 2026.
The technology is interesting, obviously, but I’m much more interested in what they’ve actually done with the ghost story, because this one sounds pretty dark.
Hesti Goes Looking for Her Father
Hesti, played by Aghniny Haque, is searching for her missing father when the trail leads her to the isolated village of Desa Gringsing, and this isn’t exactly the sort of place where you arrive, ask a few questions and get pointed towards the local police station, but Hesti becomes caught up in the story of Fatimah, a restless spirit who has apparently haunted the village for generations.
And the more Hesti digs into what happened there, the more she finds herself caught in something that the villagers would probably rather leave alone, and the first-look footage shows Hesti encountering Fatimah for the first time, with Fatmah Nadhi playing the spirit.
Trailer
Ivander Tedjasukmana Directs
Ivander Tedjasukmana writes and directs Whispers of Fatimah, with the film produced by Manoj K. Samtani, Deepak M. Samtani, Lachman G. Samtani, Nick GC Tan, Chan Pui Yin and Yogi Arifiandy – the main cast includes Aghniny Haque as Hesti and Fatmah Nadhi as Fatimah, alongside Surya Saputra, Kiki Narendra, Iskak Khivano, Hesti Putri, Nina Tamam, Iyang Darmawan, Akun Gege and Mian Tiara.
It’s also a three-way production involving Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, with production taking place at Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Johor, Malaysia – the film was also introduced internationally at the 2026 Cannes Film Market, where Mandela Pictures and Oceanus Media Global presented the project to international buyers.
There’s a Murdered Woman at the Centre of It
Fatimah does not seem to be some random ghost who happens to be hanging around an old building waiting for somebody to walk through the door, as the available material describes her as a restless spirit connected to the village, while other descriptions identify her as a murdered woman whose death has left her seeking revenge.
That immediately gives the supernatural side of the film something to work with, and I generally find ghost stories more interesting when you can actually work backwards through them and figure out why the ghost became a ghost in the first place.
The idea of a remote Indonesian village carrying the memory of a violent death for generations also fits nicely with the sort of folklore-based horror I tend to look for, and what’s important here is that Desa Gringsing isn’t just scenery – Fatimah’s story has apparently become part of the place itself, and Hesti is arriving as an outsider who doesn’t know the rules.
The Virtual Production Is Actually Pretty Interesting
The filmmaking technology is probably going to be one of the first things people mention about Whispers of Fatimah, and this is being billed as one of the first Indonesian horror features to use virtual production technology, with the film shot on an LED volumetric stage rather than relying entirely on conventional location filming or green screens.
The production created the village environments digitally and displayed them on large LED walls in real time, and that allowed the actors to actually see the environment around them rather than performing against a blank green wall.
Aghniny Haque has talked about this being her first experience with virtual production, saying that it required a different approach to acting because several locations could effectively be created on the same stage.
I’m genuinely curious about this.
Not because new technology automatically makes a film better – it obviously doesn’t – but because horror can benefit from artificial environments when they’re used deliberately, and if the village looks slightly unreal, slightly too perfect or dreamlike, that could actually work in the film’s favour.
The Folklore Is Also What I Will Watch For
The title Bisikan Desa Gringsing translates roughly as Whispers of Gringsing Village, which I think suits the story nicely, because the horror isn’t just about Fatimah – it’s about a place where something happened and where the consequences haven’t disappeared.
That’s the sort of folklore material I enjoy because you get the feeling that the story has existed long before the main character arrived – Hesti isn’t discovering a ghost, she’s discovering someone else’s history.
And unfortunately for her, that history appears to include a very angry dead woman – Aghniny Haque has been getting increasingly interesting roles in Indonesian genre cinema, and putting her at the centre of this one makes sense, so it should be interesting to watch.
A missing father leading a woman into an isolated village haunted by the spirit of a murdered woman is a pretty solid setup I have to say, and the possibility that Fatimah’s death is connected to Hesti’s family gives the mystery something to build towards – I’m also genuinely curious about whether all this virtual-production technology is going to improve the atmosphere or simply make everything look a little too polished – horror sometimes benefits from rough edges, and there’s a danger that an entirely digitally created village could lose the grimy, lived-in feeling that makes Indonesian folk horror work.
But the early footage looks atmospheric enough that I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and there’s something about a village where people have apparently been living with the memory of a murdered woman for generations that I like.
Whispers of Fatimah opens in Indonesian cinemas on September 24, 2026, with planned releases in Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and Azerbaijan following the Indonesian theatrical run.
Check out some more Indonesian horror movies.
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