Inclusive Identity Construction in Documentary Film: A Brand Identity Prism Analysis of Tana Toraja

Abstract

Inclusivity has emerged as a strategic value in regional development and public sector communication. As place branding expands beyond tourism promotion, documentary films increasingly serve as tools to construct inclusive regional identities. This study analyzes how the “Inclusive Regency” identity is constructed in the documentary Merangkai Makna Inklusivitas di Tana Toraja. Tana Toraja serves as a critical case, as one of the first regions in Indonesia to institutionalize inclusivity through a specific legal framework.
Using Jean-Noël Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (BIP), this qualitative study primarily employs textual analysis of the documentary’s narrative and visual elements across six identity dimensions: physique, personality, culture, relationship, reflection, and self-image. The analysis is supported by contextual qualitative insights from interviews with filmmakers and community stakeholders to strengthen the interpretation of inclusive identity construction. The findings show that the documentary aligns governmental legal authority (personality) with the lived social realities of vulnerable groups (physique and relationship). Community perspectives further corroborate this construction, particularly in the reflection and self-image dimensions, which reposition citizens from passive policy recipients to active subjects of development.
The study concludes that documentary film functions as an effective medium for translating complex public policies into human-centered regional identity narratives and offers practical insights for local governments to develop more participatory and story-based communication strategies.