Bali, Indonesia—-The 5th annual BALINALE International Film Festival held on Bali 15 – 20 November came to a close with rave reviews from audience members and participating filmmakers for its solid line up of selected films and workshops.
Now in its fifth year, BALINALE celebrated its Gala Opening Night at the festival’s official hotel partner W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak. The fabulous evening had many of the Filmmakers, Festival Friends, Supporters and Sponsors in attendance being treated to a sumptuous dinner and special screening of THE MAGICAL WORLD OF SILENT COLOUR (Screen Archive South East, UK) followed by a glitzy after party. Synonymous with celebrity, W hosted the visiting filmmakers and festival guests including; Donna Smith, a respected film producer and former Universal Pictures Senior Vice President responsible for numerous Academy Award-winning films; THE HOURS, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, TRAFFIC, THE MATRIX, THE ENGLISH PATIENT and THE THIN RED LINE.
The final festival days saw a full house of excited young people for its annual Free Children’s Program hosted by Festival Co-founder Christine Hakim and Friend of the Festival Didi Petet. BALINALE travelled 50 children down from Salam Children’s Home in Tabanan North Bali to join in the festivities with a showing of THE BEETLE SOLDIERS (Indonesia) and PUSS IN BOOTS (USA).
Other films featured and with filmmaker in attendance included; BORN TO BE WILD (IMAX – USA) writer/producer Drew Fellman was on hand to introduce the film shot in Kalimantan, Indonesia as one of the highlights of the festival. THEY LIVE TO DIE (HIDUP UNTUK MATI) (Indonesia) by Tino Saroengallo, MINDFULNESS AND MURDER (Thailand) by Tom Waller and KEMUNING (Indonesia) by Robbie Ertanto.
This year’s festival program held open discussions with visiting filmmakers and industry professionals including; Gabrielle Kelly, screenwriter, producer and Associate Professor of Film at Tisch Asia, Singapore, who conducted a lab titled ‘From Idea to Script’. Returning for a second year, Donna Smith spoke on ‘Translating Asian Stories into Global Films’ during the ASEAN Film Festival.
Closing Night Party at Warisan Restaurant saw this year’s much anticipated winners of the 2011 Audience Choice Awards. Best Feature Film CATATAN HARIAN SI BOY by Putrama Tuta (Indonesia) was presented by Emirsyah Satar (President & CEO Garuda Indonesia) with Didi Petet accepting the award on behalf of the filmmaker. Best Short Film went to DAY IN DAY OUT by Carl Valiquet (Canada/Indonesia) and Audience Appreciation Award went to BALI-ISLAND OF THE DOGS by Lawrence Blair and Dean Allan Tolhurst (Indonesia) – at its world premiere. And for Best Documentary BILLY T: TE MOVIE by Ian Mune (New Zealand), which had its international premiere during the festival.
BALINALE is achieving its goals of bringing together Films and their Makers as a gathering of global creativity. Each year the list of films featured in the festival gets more exciting and with the success of BALINALE 2011, the organizers are looking to grow and expand the festival’s workshops, film forums and the number of visiting filmmakers providing them an opportunity to screen their films while experiencing Indonesia’s accommodating culture and diverse locations for possible film locations or story ideas.
BALINALE is proud to acknowledge the esteemed Sponsors and Supporters of the 2011 Festival: W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak, Ministry of Culture & Tourism, US Embassy, Jakarta, Garuda Indonesia, Bali Film Center, 21 Group, Bank Central Asia, Temprina Printing, Globe Asia & Jakarta Globe