“I’m dedicating my storytelling and editing skills to craft meaningful stories and support other filmmakers to tell stories that matter.”
About
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Born in Java, Indonesia, Ernest trained in visual effects, cinematography, and filmmaking in Australia. He started his professional career in 2001 as an VFX compositor for high-end commercial post-production in Sydney, Australia.
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In 2005, Ernest took a break from post-production to pursue his passion and interest in photography and documentary filmmaking.
He led the research, recording, and production of the feature documentary Laya Project (2007), shot on location in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
The internationally acclaimed documentary captures the resilience of the human spirit through the music of the coastal communities affected by the 2004 Tsunami.
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Ernest established and set up an editing and post-production facility for international clients in Indonesia in 2010, where he offered high-end color grading and online finishing for documentary films.
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Ernest is an Australia Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) accredited writer and editor for his work in Indigenous documentaries in Australia.
The Talking Language (2014) documentary focuses on preserving Indigenous language and culture, and Who We Are: Brave New Clan (2014) showcases the urban identities of the new generation of Indigenous Australian.
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Ernest provides editing mentorship at the Docs by The Sea Editing Lab in 2019 and 2022, the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Distanced Stories 2020, and documentary filmmaking workshop at In-Docs’s Open Table 2023.
In Australia, Ernest mentored in documentary production mentorship as part as WIFT Australia’s ElevateUs program in 2024.
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Currently based in Sydney and available to work in Australia.
EMAIL: edit@ernesth.com
Ernest Hariyanto is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer, writer, and editor.
His works have been screened at major international festivals, including Warsaw, Busan, Sydney, Melbourne, Biografilm, Verzió, DOK Leipzig and Margaret Mead’s Film Festival.
Ernest co-produced, wrote, and edited ‘Streetside’ (2013), a feature-length documentary that won the Best Documentary award at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Streetside follows three marginalised street musicians in Jakarta, Indonesia, who struggle to lead meaningful lives in a city rapidly overrun by the effects of globalisation and corruption.
He produced, wrote, and edited ‘Let Elephants be Elephants’ (2014), a wildlife documentary highlighting the conservation of the last of Africa's elephants in East Africa. Produced for National Geographic Channel Asia, the documentary was nominated for Best Wildlife Programme in the Asian Television Awards. He edited ‘Plastic Island’ (2021), a feature documentary that explores the extent of single-use plastic pollution and its health impact. The film was nominated for Best Documentary at the Warsaw International Film Festival and is available globally on NETFLIX.
Recently, Ernest co-wrote and edited the avant-garde documentary ‘You Should Have Been Here Yesterday’ (2023), celebrating Australia’s early surf counter-culture and tells the story of discovery, explorations and connection to the oceans. The film premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival and was a finalist for the Documentary Australia Award at the Sydney Film Festival.
Ernest is a member of the Australian Screen Editor Guild (ASE) and an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) accredited writer and editor. He dedicates his storytelling skills to crafting meaningful stories and supporting other filmmakers to tell stories that matter.