In 2004, Amir Muhammad was invited in Indonesia to shoot a "Making of..." documentary about Riri Riza’s film Gie. He fulfilled the commission and but kept the other material for himself. “The year of living vicariously” features members of the crew and cast, but Muhammad’s questions here are not about Gie, but more about their memories of the Suharto years, their feelings about the elections taking place at that moment, and their hopes for the future of Indonesia.