Inspirational Guest Lecture at UMN Communications Faculty with the Founder and CEO of Bumilangit Entertainment

Guest lecture with Bismakara Kurniawan at the Lecture Theatre, UMN Campus. (Doc. UMN)

Tangerang, (November 19, 2025) – The Faculty of Communications at UMN held a guest lecture featuring Bismakara Kurniawan, Founder and CEO of Bumilangit Entertainment, as the speaker. On this occasion, Bismakara shared his insights on the landscape of the entertainment industry in Indonesia. The guest lecture was moderated by Moch. Taufik Hidayatullah, M.A., is a film critic and lecturer on Media, Youth, and pop culture in Southeast Asia.

Bismakara Kurniawan is the founder of Bumilangit Entertainment, which focuses on superhero-based comic stories in Indonesia. Bismakara himself founded Bumilangit in 2003 and has created 1,200 characters in comics. Today, Bumilangit is not only prominent in the comic industry but has also successfully developed Indonesian superheroes such as Gundala, Sri Asih, Sira, and various other superheroes.

“We need to understand that the media landscape has changed, which is certainly influenced by technology and social media. This has significantly changed the world of entertainment, considering that it is now dominated by Gen Z, and each generation has its own priorities in how they enjoy entertainment content,” Bismakara explained.

Bismakara shared his perspective on Gen Z’s behavior, noting that Gen Z tends to watch more on streaming platforms. Additionally, with the massive use of social media today, Gen Z increasingly seeks information and makes decisions based on what they find on social media.

“Another important thing is not only looking at market behavior but also storytelling. It may be easy to create characters and register them for copyright, but it doesn’t stop there. Storytelling is an important part that is attached to each character. Audiences will definitely have different favorite characters, which is also based on the story behind the character,” added Bismakara.

Bismakara presenting material at a guest lecture for the UMN Communications Faculty. (Doc. UMN)

According to Bismakara, good storytelling not only entertains the audience but also increases branding opportunities. Take the superhero Gundala, for example, who has become an icon of Indonesian superheroes and has collaborated with various brands ranging from coffee to banking, becoming top of mind for Indonesia.

“Talking about diversity and inclusivity, at Bumilangit, we don’t produce content for the sake of diversity, there are no films specifically for certain ethnic groups, nations, or religions. We produce content based on target age groups and gender. We want our productions to be enjoyed by a wide range of people,” Bismakara explained.

With this, Bismakara explained his specific objective, which is to make films that people will remember, and most importantly, to tell stories that are relevant to Indonesia. According to Bismakara, many people like things that are relevant to themselves, and this feeling of relevance or relatability can increase the audience’s empathy.

“I think there will be more challenges and opportunities in the entertainment industry in the future. The latest Artificial Intelligence technology is not only disruptive but also opens up new opportunities to be more creative and time-efficient. Of course, with good ethics in its use, it will also produce good opportunities,” Bismakara concluded.

By Rachel Tiffany | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara.