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In 2012, while on an artist’s residency in the city of Solo on the Indonesian island of Java, Buffalo, N.Y.-raised filmmaker Matt Dunning made documentary films featuring gamelan music, a style that utilizes pinging metal drums, gongs, and metallophones. Neither the 15-minute Srimpi Muncar nor Sekaten, a 35-minute effort (packaged on DVD under the title The Stirring of a Thousand Bells), follows the Ken Burns approach of talking heads and floating images; in fact, no one is interviewed in either work. Instead, in Sekaten, Dunning offers a few sentences of type near the beginning explaining that it is a film about the Sekaten festival, a tribute to the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Then it dives into a street celebration that features carnival rides, a parade, and a room where a gamelan orchestra’s percussion rings like a series of doorbells. Srimpi Muncar is a slow-tempoed Javanese classical piece danced by women in traditional costumes in the Mangkunegaran Palace. But rather than simply recording it, Dunning superimposes footage of boats on the water, people releasing small hot-air balloons, and folks on motorbikes. The works are experimental, yes, but they’re also an easy way to people-watch in Java without a passport. The film shows at 7 p.m. at BloomBars, 3222 11th St. NW. $10. (202) 567-7713. bloombars.com.