News & Updates…2007

DECEMBER:

BFC is providing production assistance for a new Australian TV series called "The Outdoor Room" presently filming on Bali. The Channel Seven program reveals the beauty in Balinese gardens and landscape designs presented by renowned landscape designer and horticulturalist Jamie Durie.

NOVEMBER:

Tony Rose, noted actor and writer, was recently spotted in Jakarta meeting BFC about his upcoming feature ULUWATU.

Prodigy Films (Aus) and Axis Films (Jkt) are working with BFC on a four day 35mm TVC for Schwarzkopf Hair Care Product 'Schauma'.  Link

OCTOBER:
Visit the Bali Film Center booth at BIFCOM and Asian Film Market held in Busan, Korea 8-11 October. BFC will also attend the Asian Film Commissions Network General Assembly as Vice President of the organization. VARIETY Article

SEPTEMBER:

BFC, in partnership with the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, is sponsoring an innovative workshop called 'Creative Writing for Film' to be held on Bali 30 September 2007 at Pondok Pekak, Jl. Monkey Forest, Ubud. The free workshop will be conducted by Salman Aristo, an award-winning Indonesian Scriptwriter and Producer, introducing middle and high school students to the art and process of writing for film.

PRESS RELEASE:   BTFF&A LAUNCHES 'Creative Writing Workshop'

AUGUST:
Sweet Rain Productions together with Singapore Media Development Are here shooting a travelogue entitled ASIA SPA. The program showcases the top spas in Asia and will be broadcasted in the United States and then distributed to Europe and other parts of the world. Endorsed by the Bali Tourism Board, the Bali episode featured spas at the COMO SHAMBALA and KOMANEKA TANGGAYUDA.

JULY:

Icon Films (UK) are filming two episodes of Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures on the island of Sulawesi. Working with Jungle Run Productions and BFC, the subjects they plan to shoot are the mimic octopus and the spectral tarsier living in the Lembeh Straits and Tankoko National Park.

Preparations are underway with Whitewolf Entertainment (USA) to produce a documentary series on unknown animals for The History Channel. Tentatively called "Science Meets Legends", the episode examines the Ape Man of Sumatra (Orang Pendek). Many local witnesses as well as several prominent western conservationists have seen this creature, referred to as a small big-foot.

April:

Announcing the first ever BALI TAKSU FILM FESTIVAL & AWARDS saluting those filmmakers and celebrities who continue to support the island and its people. Held 1st - 4th November 2007 the event includes a retrospective of Bali-themed Films, a Tribute to Indonesian Filmmakers and a Christies Charity Art Auction. In addition to the festivities, the producers and directors will have an opportunity to explore the abundant film location possibilities available throughout the country.

BFC attends AFCI Film Locations Trade Show at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 12-15 April (Santa, Monica, CA). During Locations, the Asian Film Commissions Network will hold its Board of Directors Meeting in which BFC is sitting co-Vice President.

 

MARCH:

Visit BFC (Booth R38) in Hongkong during LOCATIONS WORLD (19-22 March).
Held in conjunction with FILMART, the event will be attended by studio executives, producers, directors, production managers, location scouts, cinematographers, and film production personnel from the fields of film, TV and advertising. (Link: Photos & Report)
(Link: www.hkfilmart.com)

February:

Tri-Film Productions (USA) are in Bali to film a Microsoft charity program about a local community of farmers, “Kelompok Tani Muda Mandiri,” from Pancasari (Bedugul) who sell their crop of paprika through the Internet. This project is one of 13 other projects based in countries all over the world.

BEYOND PRODUCTIONS

On location at Kawah Ijen ( East Java) shown filming National Geographic's TABOO. (Link)

New arrival for Deb

Deborah Gabinetti welcomes a new member of her family! (Link)

JANUARY:
BEYOND PRODUCTIONS (Australia) are in pre-production for a National Geographic Program entitled TABOO, which explores different customs and cultural practices around the world showing what some might consider taboo, is a celebrated part of culture for others. The crew will be working with BFC filming the sulfur miners at Ljen Crater (East Java) and the Pasola Festival (Sumba).

BFC is presently Location Scouting for an upcoming OPTNZ (Our Production Team in New Zealand) shoot. Specializing is Stills Production; OPTNZ has enlisted the experienced professionals of BFC to assist the crew from planning to production of their next major campaign on Bali.
 

News & Updates…2006

DECEMBER:

Jakarta International Film Festival 2006
BFC is proud to support the 8th annual JiFFest (8th - 17th Dec). This year the festival will show 230 films from 35 countries including Script Development Workshops. The Premier was held at the XXI Club with many notable celebrities and industry professionals in attendance including BFC’s director. Click here for photos

'BFC Director elected as co-Vice President of AFCNet' 
BFC director (Deborah Gabinetti) was elected co-VP for the Asian Film Commissions Network at the organization's General Assembly held during the Busan International Film Commission and Industry Showcase (BIFCOM) in Korea. Click for Full Report
 

SEPTEMBER:

MTV ‘Living Lahaina’
BFC is working together with PT Balindotirta Sejahtera (Jungle Run Productions) on an exciting new MTV program called ‘Living Lahaina’ to be aired in the United States and Internationally. ‘Living Lahaina’ follow a group of young adventurers as they take on the awesome surf of Mentawai Straits (Sumatra) and Bali, as well as, experience the local culture and traditions.
 

'GREAT OCEAN ADVENTURES' is being produced by RDF MEDIA for CHANNEL 5 (UK) and ANIMAL PLANET/DISCOVERY. The adventure series follows British diver and marine biologist MONTY HALL, on an expedition to eight of the most spectacular dive locations in the world, in which Indonesia has several of them. In Bali, Monty films the island’s most famous marine animal, the MOLA-MOLA or giant ocean sunfish.

AD IDEM PRODUCTIONS PTE LTD (Singapore) are shooting on Bali a 25-minute documentary titled ‘Mountain Journeys’. Trekking from the sacred mother temple of Pura Besakih to the summit of Mount Agung (3.142 kilometres high), the show will feature the breathtaking panoramic views of Bali as the team encounter the local culture & lifestyle of the people living and working on the site of this active volcano.

Stellar Inflight (Aus) produces an Indonesia Travelogue for Royal Brunei Airline. Highlighting the best the country has to offer, Stellar Inflight features locations and activities from Surabaya, Bali and Jakarta.

JULY:
‘Project Manokwari’ will bring the viewer to the remote and mysterious undersea world in Dore Bay, off the coast of Manokwari, West Papua. Major sequences will document the diving and exploration of the marine life there concentrating on the natural environment by showing the arresting beauty of the coral reefs and undersea life in the region.

Showcasing this exotic locale, as well as giving the audience a sense of life on a live aboard dive boat, the film will incorporate aerial and land based photography of the region to create a memorable portrait of this intriguingly distant location.

JUNE :

FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL
IN INDONESIA

The 11th edition of the French Film Festival will present a selection of films including ‘Toute la Beauté du Monde’. Shot on Bali & Lombok Islands, Director Marc Esposito states, ‘In my film I depict Bali and Lombok as I see them, the most beautiful places in the world.’  Read more on the film :

Bali - Locations Magazine 

WORLD’S MOST EXTREME HOMES (Pioneer Productions – UK)

Visiting some of Bali’s most unusual, beautiful and unique houses in the world, the program meets the people who live on this beautiful island and maintain these fantastic homes. The series airs on Discovery Travel & Living Channel.

MAY :

MURDER OR MUTINY ('Whatever Happened to Salty Sam?') (Long Way Round Productions) hosts Pamela Stephenson as she retraces the ocean adventures of her great-great grandfather Samuel Stephenson - otherwise known as Salty Sam - aboard his trading ship, Rosalie, in 1821. This six part one-hour television series takes us on an exciting voyage along the old Spice Route journeying through Indonesia, India, Malaysia and China

BFC is a Sponsoring Partner for the Quest for Global Healing Conference (link) in Ubud, Bali hosting an extraordinary gathering of world-renowned speakers; including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, Award-winning Journalist Walter Cronkite, and others. A Film Festival held during the event will screen films such as ‘What the BLEEP Do We Know!?’ presented by Will Arntz and Golden Globe Award Winning ‘Osama’ produced by Lebrocquy-Fraser.
 

APRIL :
MURDER OR MUTINY ('Whatever Happened to Salty Sam?')

MARCH :

ANTHONY BOURDAIN:  NO RESERVATIONS

Discovery/Travel Channel show, starring host, chef and author, Anthony Bourdain, takes you around Indonesia exploring the diverse and unique cultures and cuisines. 

Discovery Channel’s GLOBETREKKER will shoot three episodes on Bali including; Cafe Asia - a new street food travel food series on Asian cities, Metropolis - a design and high lifestyle travel series on cutting edge Asian cities focuses on art/design/architecture, and Adventure Golf – a travel golf adventure series about playing the best golf courses in the world and everything to do in between.

FEBRUARY :

BFC is proud to announce the completion of the historical important documentary ‘The Effects of Balinese Dance on the West - A Tourist Trail’ co-produced with South East Film & Video Archive (SEFVA) University of Brighton, UK, the rare 1939 16mm Kodachrome color footage shot by Swedish diplomat T.H. Wistrand documents the great cultural importance of Balinese dance heritage and provides a unique glimpse into the true Bali that existed at the time.