Boes Boestami

Boes Boestami was a prominent journalist and film actor in Indonesia. He was born in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, on 30 December 1922. He attended a European school and a trade school before pursuing a career in journalism. He wrote under the pen name "Little Star" and covered film and entertainment news for various newspapers and magazines. He also became involved in the film industry as an actor, making his debut in 1951 with Pelarian dari Pagar Besi. He appeared in almost forty films, mostly in comedic roles, until the end of the 1960s. He worked with different production houses and directors, including Wim Umboh, who gave him his last film role in Laki-Laki Tak Bernama in 1969. Boestami was also active in the Indonesian Journalists Union and participated in the 1959 Asian Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. He died in Jakarta on 11 September 1970. He left behind a large collection of film stills from the colonial period, which inspired the film producer Misbach Yusa Biran to establish Sinematek Indonesia, a film archive and museum, in 1975. Boestami is remembered as one of the pioneers of Indonesian cinema and journalism.