The film also featured Slamet Rahardjo, Dewi Irawan, Hendro Djarot, Tio Pakusadewo, Lukman Sardi, and Teuku Rifnu Wikana in supporting roles; Happy Salma also had a cameo as a dancer. "Sang Penari" touches on the history of communism in Indonesia, focusing on the nation's communist party spreading its ideology and the government's purge of the Communist Party's members from 1965–1966, which is thought to have killed several hundred thousand. It is only the third Indonesian film to cover the killings, following Arifin C. Noer's "G30S/PKI" (1984) and Riri Riza's "Gie" (2005). Tohari later said that if he had written about the killings as they were depicted in the film, the repressive New Order government would have had him shot. "Sang Penari" features many spoken lines in the Banyumasan language spoken in the area. It also features several aspects of Indonesian culture, including batik and Javanese music. "Sang Penari" was released on 10 November 2011. Tohari, who had refused to watch the first adaptation, enjoyed "Sang Penari" and reportedly considered it a "sublime adaptation of his work". Triwik Kurniasari, writing for "The Jakarta Post", described the film as "artistically stunning" and that Isfansyah "smoothly translates the sinister moment and the vicious attempts taken by the military in handling possible traitors". Labodalih Sembiring, writing for the "Jakarta Globe", said the socio-cultural elements in the film were worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy and that it featured good acting and direction; however, the film's soundtrack was considered lacking. "Sang Penari" was nominated for nine awards at the 2011 Indonesian Film Festival, winning four. The film was selected as the Indonesian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.