Trending in Indonesia: A Twitter-Themed Romantic Comedy

A new film tackles love in 140 characters or less

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A new film tackles love in 140 characters or less.

(MORE: Is Twitter Really More Addictive than Alcohol? The Vagaries of Will and Desire)

Indonesian filmmaker Kuntz Agus is making a Twitter-centered romance for the big screen, reports the Jakarta Globe.

In Republik Twitter, set to hit theaters Feb. 16, romance starts online then moves into the real world. Abimana Aryasatya plays a social-media-savvy political-campaign consultant, who flirts with a journalist (Laura Basuki) on Twitter before they meet face-to-face in Jakarta. Abimana’s character also turns to Twitter for advice on how to revamp his style and become “the trending topic.”

Kuntz Agus told Tech Wire Asia that Republik Twitter will be funny, quirky and comparable to (500) Days of Summer. “Numerous hookups and breakups happen on Twitter. Many relationships end badly due to personality differences. After all, it’s hard to get to know a person well in 140-character bits,” Kuntz said.

The movie is also commentary on the country’s love affair with social networking and its addiction to mobile phones. “We called the film Republik Twitter because it’s all about Indonesian Twitter users,” Kuntz told the Globe. “And like Kemal says in the movie, the voice of Twitter is the voice of the nation.”

(More: Twitter Eclipses 12,000 Tweets per Second During Super Bowl)

Not only is Indonesia the fourth largest user of Facebook, but a 2010 ComScore survey also declared it the world’s most prolific tweeting nation, surpassing Brazil, Venezuela and the U.S. According to the survey, 20.8% of Internet-aged users in Indonesia are tweeting. Overall, the Asia-Pacific region ranked as the second fastest-growing region behind Latin America, growing 243% from the previous year, with 25.1 million people visited Twitter.com in mid-2010.

A new film tackles love in 140 characters or less.

(MORE: Is Twitter Really More Addictive than Alcohol? The Vagaries of Will and Desire)

Indonesian filmmaker Kuntz Agus is making a Twitter-centered romance for the big screen, reports the Jakarta Globe.

In Republik Twitter, set to hit theaters Feb. 16, romance starts online then moves into the real world. Abimana Aryasatya plays a social-media-savvy political-campaign consultant, who flirts with a journalist (Laura Basuki) on Twitter before they meet face-to-face in Jakarta. Abimana’s character also turns to Twitter for advice on how to revamp his style and become “the trending topic.”

Kuntz Agus told Tech Wire Asia that Republik Twitter will be funny, quirky and comparable to (500) Days of Summer. “Numerous hookups and breakups happen on Twitter. Many relationships end badly due to personality differences. After all, it’s hard to get to know a person well in 140-character bits,” Kuntz said.

The movie is also commentary on the country’s love affair with social networking and its addiction to mobile phones. “We called the film Republik Twitter because it’s all about Indonesian Twitter users,” Kuntz told the Globe. “And like Kemal says in the movie, the voice of Twitter is the voice of the nation.”

(More: Twitter Eclipses 12,000 Tweets per Second During Super Bowl)

Not only is Indonesia the fourth largest user of Facebook, but a 2010 ComScore survey also declared it the world’s most prolific tweeting nation, surpassing Brazil, Venezuela and the U.S. According to the survey, 20.8% of Internet-aged users in Indonesia are tweeting. Overall, the Asia-Pacific region ranked as the second fastest-growing region behind Latin America, growing 243% from the previous year, with 25.1 million people visited Twitter.com in mid-2010.