DENPASAR, Bali - You can measure how deeply an
idea has infiltrated the global consciousness by its
imitators. Hollywood, home of the US film industry,
begat Bollywood, nickname for the Indian movie business
centered on Bombay (now Mumbai). And now there's
Baliwood.
Or at least the Bali Film Commission
(BFC) hopes to create Baliwood, and it has confidently
copyrighted the term. BFC promotes its home island and
the rest of Indonesia to overseas filmmakers for
location shooting.
The Lord of Rings
trilogy is the new holy grail for turning the silver
screen into local gold. Location filming in New Zealand
generated 23,000 jobs (which made Lord of the
Rings the largest private-sector employer in New
Zealand) and pumped US$70 million into the national
economy. It also led residents of Taranaki province,
where much of the filming took place, to begin calling
their area Nakiwood.
See it
live! After their release, films can also lure
tourists to come see in person what charmed them on the
screen. Braveheart's portrait of medieval
Scotland got credit for a subsequent 52 percent rise in
tourist arrivals there. Cambodia's Angkor Wat had its
profile and visitor numbers raised thanks to the ancient
temple's prominent role in Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider. Thailand's pristine coast depicted in The
Beach tempted audiences to visit in its wake, as
well as bringing in $35 million during shooting. Tourism
in New Zealand rose a reported 50 percent after the
first Lord of the Rings film, and the final
installment's premiere in Wellington drew thousands more
visitors to New Zealand's capital.
If other
island nations can make millions from the movies, the
BFC figures the world's biggest archipelago nation can
do it too, even bigger and better. Indonesia has a
history of filmmaking, and the industry is enjoying a
renaissance of sorts. Teen flick Ada Apa Dengan
Cinta? ("What's Up with Love/Cinta?" [the name of
the lead character]) and yuppie tale Arisan (a
regular social gathering centering on a lottery)
featuring a gay kiss have found audiences in Indonesia
and won critical acclaim.
During the 1980s,
Indonesian filmmakers churned out some 125 features a
year, ranking third globally behind India and the United
States. But the numbers dwindled until, at the depth of
the Asian economic crisis in 1998, just four films were
made in Indonesia. Unlike Hong Kong, though, where the
decline in movie-making sidelined production trades,
Indonesia offered a booming domestic television market
as the government loosened its shackles. Now 10 national
networks increasingly demand local programming,
particularly sinetron, local soap operas, keeping
the cameras rolling.
For foreign filmmakers,
that means Indonesia has skilled crews available (at
wages a fraction of their Western counterparts') as well
as state-of-the-art production, processing and editing
facilities. The country even boasts world-class
computer-animation services, including Red Rocket of
Bandung in West Java, which does work for Disney.
Cue the commission What Indonesia
hasn't had is anyone to promote the country as a
location and help filmmakers negotiate the bureaucracy
and find professional help. Cue the Bali Film
Commission.
"Indonesia offers the most diverse
range of locations in the world - including the ability
to re-create any era or setting - 350 different ethnic
groups, large numbers of extras available on short
notice, English as a second or third language, and the
world's best craftsmen, who can create or copy virtually
anything at a fraction of the cost," BFC founder Deborah
Gabinetti enthuses, pausing only to catch her breath.
"Although the country has no tax-rebate or incentive
plan in place, we've found that most budgets can be
undercut by 10-20 percent right off the top."
A
member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1978 with
credits on both US coasts, Gabinetti was an established
casting director in New York in 1990 when she met a
friend heading for Indonesia to film tourism
advertisements. She recalls, "I jokingly said, 'If you
need an assistant, call me', and six months later, he
did
." She took the offer, eventually setting up
shop in Jakarta for six years to work with the
burgeoning television industry. After moving to Bali in
1997, Gabinetti found herself assisting foreign film
crews that came through. "There were no support services
in place, and local people and resources were not being
utilized," Gabinetti remembers. "The government also was
not receiving copies of anything shot here for use in
their own promotional efforts."
In April 2002,
she proposed an agency to promote Bali as a shooting
location and help productions that did come. The
provincial government's Bali Tourism Authority provided
office space but no funding to the fledgling group,
which became known as the Bali Film Commission on
receiving international recognition last October and has
broadened it mandate to promote shooting throughout
Indonesia. "Unlike most film commissions, we receive no
funding from the government," Gabinetti notes.
BFC's four-member team based in Denpasar also
provides a range of services, including logistical
support, help with permits, equipment rental, crew
hiring, location selection, research and publicity.
Folly to Bali? Golden
Globe-winning producer Julia Fraser is working with BFC
on an upcoming feature film Almayer's Folly,
adapted from a Joseph Conrad novel. "Before we met
Deborah, we were mostly looking at shooting our film in
either Sarawak or Sabah [in Malaysia]," Fraser says. She
adds that BFC has assisted on issues beyond location
hunting, such as casting and financing. "Deborah is very
passionate about bringing more exposure to Indonesia as
a location to make films."
BFC spreads its
gospel at media trade events around the world and last
week signed a cooperative pact with other film
commissions in the region. The Indonesian central
government has begun to recognize and assist BFC,
cutting red tape to support film production and even
considering some limited sponsorship help.
While
waiting for Indonesia's Lord of the Rings, BFC
has overcome concerns about the October 2002 Bali
bombings to log several successes. Kiss Kiss Ko,
an Indian-Indonesian co-production, was shot almost
entirely on Bali last year. Due in theaters next month,
the low-budget film features the boy band Band of Boys
and some 600 local extras.
South Korea's Seoul
Broadcasting System (SBS) television network filmed
segments of a romantic miniseries, Incident in
Bali, at some of the island's leading tourist spots
and in Jakarta. SBS brought a 40-member Korean
production team, then hired three dozen assistants from
Jakarta and Bali along with 100 extras. The series began
airing in January, and BFC hopes the program will
encourage more Korean tourists to visit Indonesia.
BFC attracted a third of all international
filming on Bali and nearby islands last year, according
to Gabinetti. BFC hopes to top that figure this year,
plans to develop local capacity to support the industry
through training and workshops, and is talking to
investors about building a studio in Bali. "Even a
simple facility will increase the country's appeal to
filmmakers and its potential for film deals," Gabinetti
proposes. She's already got a name picked out - and
copyrighted - if that studio gets built.
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