Starring Gita Novalista, Atiqah Hasiholan, and Reza Rahadian, it follows a young Bajau girl named Pakis who has lost her father at sea and uses mirrors to unsuccessfully search for him.

Filmed over a period of two months after nearly three years of research, The Mirror Never Lies was sponsored in part by the Indonesian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Wakatobi regency government.

Pakis (Gita Novalista) is a young girl from a fishing community of the Bajau people in Wakatobi, Sulawesi, part of the Coral Triangle.

[1] For her feature film debut, Andini chose to write about the sea – a topic which had long interested her and on which she had previously recorded documentaries.

They faced poor weather, including typhoons and large waves, and had difficulty manoeuvring over the wooden walkways and bridges used by the Bajau.

[10] In preparing for their roles, Hasiholan exercised slicing and dicing fish,[11] while Rahadian went to Ancol in North Jakarta to learn about dolphins.

[7][15] In a 2012 interview Andini stated that she considered The Mirror Never Lies and the Bajau people symbols of unity; she expressed that the sea should not separate the different ethnic groups in the nation, but serve to connect them.

[16] Likewise, in an interview with Antara Nugroho stated that the film was intended to remind Indonesians that theirs is a maritime nation, which has influenced the country's culture.

[2] Writing for Kompas, Teguh Prayoga Sudarmanto noted that such a theme is representative of realities faced by Bajau fishermen, who must travel ever further as the fish supplies diminish.

[8] Benny Benke, writing for the Semarang-based Suara Merdeka, drew a parallel between The Mirror Never Lies and Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot.

[18] Meanwhile, Maggie Lee, reviewing in The Hollywood Reporter, considered the film more of a coming-of-age story, with Pakis "discovering her womanhood just when the most significant man in her life is gone".

[14] Ultimately, Lee suggested that Andini was expressing her desire to "break away from her father' [sic] artistic influence and swim alone" through the film.

[14] The Mirror Never Lies was premiered at the XXI Cineplex at FX Life Style in Jakarta on 26 April 2011,[17] followed by a wide release on 5 May 2011.

[16] Puput Puji Lestari, writing for the Indonesian entertainment website KapanLagi.com, praised The Mirror Never Lies, concluding that it was "highly recomended" [sic] and that, despite some scenes which were out of focus, it "showed its quality from the first minute".

[14] Siregar also praised the visuals, writing that "every frame of the film is filled with the natural beauty of Wakatobi" and that The Mirror Never Lies would likely attract tourists to the islands.

[7] Writing for Tempo magazine, Nunuy Nurhayati found that Andini had "done pretty well"[c] with the film, praising its storyline and the children's acting.