Ininnawa: An Island Calling is a story of obligation and sacrifice, told through the perspective of a family dedicating their lives to providing healthcare on the remote islands of Indonesia’s Flores Sea. With an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach failing her people, the film explores the difficulties the world’s largest archipelago faces in providing health care to its people. 

MIMI is a mother of two, who until recently had left her first child at school in the city and together with her youngest child, worked on the islands located 30 hours sea travel from South Sulawesi. Her husband HASRI also separates from his family to pursue his calling and work the neighbouring islands. Family reunions are rare. As veteran nurse and Mimi’s mother RABIAH is forced into retirement, she attempts to pass the baton to her daughter, yet she finds herself once more on the islands in an unofficial caretaker role, as the Covid pandemic takes hold and Mimi gives birth to her 3rd child.

Mimi’s challenges, fears, and anxieties unfold on screen as she returns to work as an independent remote area nurse. But for how long can she stay strong and separate from her young family? And for how long can Rabiah resist the call of her islands?