Client: TikTok Indonesia | Director: Jason Iskandar | Year: 2021 | Watch on TikTok

X&Y is Indonesia’s first vertical short film on TikTok, a romantic story that lives between the axes of closeness and distance. The film follows Omar (Jourdy Pranata) who represents the Y-axis, and Winda (Arawinda Kirana), the X-axis, neighbors in a boarding house who quietly harbor feelings for each other. Even though their rooms are just above and below, their lives seem to travel in different directions, until shared moments force them to reckon with what they might mean to each other.

Featuring professional actors and emerging TikTok creators, such as Dwynna Win, Avan The Love, and Giovani Divaldhi, the film blends familiar faces with new energy. The soundtrack “Terpikat Senyummu” by Brigita Meilala underscores the film’s emotional tension. Launched between March 29 and April 4, 2021, X&Y was released in six short chapters on TikTok Indonesia.

By using the vertical 9:16 format, X&Y embraces how audiences now engage, with stories viewed on phones, in vertical scrolls, with intimate framing. Sante Productions (via collaboration with Studio Antelope) helped bring this project to life under the direction of Jason Iskandar. The film isn’t just about romance, but about paths that might diverge, the courage to act despite distance, and the poetic beauty in longing.