Rayya, Cahaya Di Atas Cahaya

Title translation: Rayya, Light Above Light

Rayya is a famous and talented celebrity. She never stops getting awards. Her film always go to box office, the songs she sings are always number one hits on the radio. But Rayya is actually too smart and unhappy with all her achievements and the glitters in her life full of falsehood. Her anxiety is further aggravated by her crashing love life after her boyfriend, which is someone else’s husband, breaks up with her.

At the same time, she is in the middle of her biography making. She is preparing for a photo trip to several cities. Her grave desperation makes her think to end it once and for all during the trip. She casts away her tears, hope, everything about herself, wishing there will be nothing left. If she can she will do it in front of the camera.

The trip is about to start and Rayya requires that she be accompanied by only one photographer. But they haven’t been gone beyond Indramayu when Rayya has already fired Kemal, the photographer that her team hires for the book project. It’s simple, Kemal lies. And to Rayya, lies are fatal. So Kemal is replaced by Arya, who is originally referred to by the team and Rayya herself. Arya is deemed as quaint because he still uses celluloid. To him, taking photographs is life itself, not something that’s easy to erase. With digital camera, Arya thinks that he makes mistakes too readily and is forgiven too easily too by the act of erasing pictures. Life and taking photos have things in common. One has to be cautious and responsible because something that has happened cannot be altered.

The trip that’s a photo session at the outset grows complicated due to the travelers’ problems. Their “jumps”, “dances” and “plays” give rise to a journey far from what they have imagined. It’s a physical journey, but not only bodies that go through the passage there. Their understanding, knowledge and hearts travel along the way too, living through and finding the true meaning of death. To find the light above light.