Writer/Director Joko Anwar win rave reviews and commercial success with his debut feature Janji Joni (Joni's Promise), a lightweight comedy adventure about a guy who shuffles film reels between theaters. His second film KALA takes a much darker turn, telling a story of an unspecified period in an unnamed country. For this movie, Joko enlists the help of his long-time collaborator, cinematographer Ipung Rahmat Syaiful and a band of award-winning crew. KALA was shot within 31 days in 27 locations in four cities, on a US$600,000 budget. "We slept for only four hours everyday. But the crew's morale was incredibly high," Joko said. "Everybody saw it as an adventure. It was pure joy."Most of the locations were in and old city (Kota Lama) of Semarang, Central, where old colonials building remained untouched.Twenty-six year-old Fachri Albar as Janus has already mesmerized Indonesian audience with his role as transsexual in Jakarta Undercover, a thriller that opens in May which also written by Joko Ario Bayu, 22, plays a much older character, a jaded homicide investigator named Eros. This is his first leading role. International model Fahrani, here in her first big screen debut as Ranti, caught Joko's attention in a television movie. Shanty who was widely praised for her performance in Berbagi Suami (Love for Share) plays the femme fatale named Sari. KALA also marks the big screen debut performance for Tipi Jabrik, a professional surfer who has appeared in several TV commercials.Adding to the already impressive casts are veteran actors and cult icons of the 80s: Frans Tumbuan and August Melasz. For the first time, Frans plays an antagonist character while August acts as protagonist. Indonesian poet/stage director Yose Rizal Manua plays a character which is best kept secret.KALA is the first venture into feature films for MD Pictures, a company owned by Dhamoo and Manoj Punjabi. The former is already known as cult films producer in the 80s.