Borneo Eco Film Festival 2013

Hey all,
I have great news for all you people in KK city. From this Friday to Sunday, #BEFF2013 aka Borneo Eco Film Festival 2013 is happening and best of all, you can go attend for FREE!

I repeat FREE! Just drop by to JKKN (The new building along Jalan Penampang next to Arkib Negara).

 I was invited in for the bloggers round table preview of BEFF. It was yummy, oops, I mean interesting.

Melissa and Chloe. 

Films that I like:
Oceans

 Swirling along at 10 knots an hour in a school of hunting tuna fish, leaping with dolphins in their unruly contortions, swimming shoulder to fin with the great white shark, … Oceans is to be a fish among fishes.

After Winged Migrants, Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, with ground-breaking filming resources, lead us into the heart of the oceans to discover unknown or unrecognized marine creatures.

Océans queries the impact of the human footprint on wildlife and replies to the question  "Ocean ?  What is the Ocean ?"  through images and emotions. 

Press Release

The Borneo Eco Film Festival 2013 (BEFF 2013) presents an exciting line-up of free screenings of environmental films, community filmmaking workshops and public talks which will take place 27^th to the 29^th of September at the KompleksJabatanKebudayaandanKesenianNegara(JKKN) Sabah.

At a press conference held at Imperial Boutec Hotel today, organizers revealed a detailed programme of the highly-anticipated non-profit event, which enters its third year.

Festival Director, Melissa Leong, revealed the opening night sequence as well as the line-up of environmental and historical films for this year.  “Our opening night on the 27^th of September at 8:00pm will kick off on a unique note with a special live performance of ‘The Giving Tree’ – an animated film based on the book of the same name written by Shel Silverstein. This year, we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the animation and 50^th anniversary of the book. The Asian Premiere of the film will be given a new twist with a live narration in Bahasa Malaysia by poet DatuRuslanSulai, accompanied by musician Hezekiah Asim,” she said. This is followed by a screening of Kemajuan Sabah (1963), a black and white Filem Negara Malaysia film screened in conjunction with Malaysia Day’s 50^th Anniversary and a visual spectacle produced by French filmmakers and DisneyNature entitled Oceans, narrated by Pierce Brosnan.

Other notable films not to be missed include pioneer female explorer Osa Johnson’s I Married Adventure (1940), the Asian Premiere of Chez Les MurutsPeupladeSauvage du Nord de Borneo (Amongst the Muruts, Wild People of North Borneo) (1911) accompanied by musician Hezekiah Asim, Japan’s Murasaki (2011) and the Southeast Asian premiere of the controversial documentary Blackfish (2013) – the story of an Orca named Tilikum who attacked and killed its trainer during a routine performance at an American marine park. These are just a few of the Southeast Asian and Asian premieres of award-winning films that have been exclusively selected for BEFF 2013.

Melissa revealed that at the end of each night after the screenings, audiences stand a chance to win exciting prizes during a lucky draw. “We have great prizes including Acer Iconia tabs, food and beverage vouchers from Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa and hotel room vouchers from Hotel Sixty3 and Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort, among others. So be sure to stick around till the last screening of the night,” she said, adding that visitors can also visit the many NGO and F&B outlets set up at the auditorium foyer during the festival.

Dr. Agnes Agama, co-founder of BEFF and environmental anthropologist,also said the SUARA KOMUNITI filmmaking workshops will culminate at the festival. “SUARA KOMUNITI activities are conducted all year long through village-level workshops where indigenous and local communities work with SUARA guest trainers for two to three days of hands-on training in filmmaking approaches, styles and techniques,” she explained. From the 25^th to the 29^th of September, these communities will congregate at Kompleks JKKN for the final series of workshops.

Another SUARA segment not to be missed is the SUARA Publika – featuring a range of free environmental public talks by WWF-Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Sabah Computer Society and the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society (SWCS). “We are very honoured to have the oldest, biggest and most influential environmental organizations – WWF-Malaysia and MNS – with us this year. Sabah Computer Society will be presenting an interesting talk on e-waste and SWCS will give us an insight on mangrove conservation,” Agnes said. The talks will take place on Sunday, 29 September, beginning at 12:30pm.

Agnes also introduced Borneo Pitch as part of the SUARA Publika session on Saturday, 28 September. “This is a new, public forum that provides an opportunity for local storytellers to introduce their ideas in an organized and professional manner. During this workshop, they will receive feedback from a panel of filmmaking experts and from the audience. We hope that this experience will help budding filmmakers be comfortable with sharing and receiving criticism. We firmly believe that criticism and discussion are vital to any successful project,” she said.

This year, WWF-Malaysia is the presenting partner for the Boleh Bah Filem Kita! Short Film Competition. “We are very keen to help boost the local filmmaking industry and encourage more environmental filmmakers to come out and tell their unique Bornean stories in their own voices and who better to collaborate with than the environmental experts of WWF-Malaysia,” said Melissa.

The prize giving ceremony and screening of finalists’ films will take place on the 29^th of September, Sunday at 7:00pm. This year’s judges are Dato’ Dr. Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director and CEO of WWF-Malaysia, award-winning photographer Louis Pang and musical producer, photographer and videographer Chris Pereira. Aside from the first place and runner-up prizes, WWF-Malaysia is also awarding a special prize to films focusing onTun Mustapha Park, the largest marine protected area in Malaysia once it is gazetted.

Melissa concluded by thanking all the generous sponsors and volunteers in making this event a success. “As you are aware, we are a non-profit event and it would not have come into fruition without the support and contributions of all our sponsors. The Main Festival Partners for the event are the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA), CIMB Foundation, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah, National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (FINAS) under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara, Negeri Sabah (JKKN) under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia, The Sabah Society and Daily Express.

“We would also like to thank our SUARA Supporters, namely WWF-Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society, Sabah Computer Society, Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society, HUTAN, Model Ecologically Sustainable Community-based Tourism (MESCOT), Sabah Hotels Association, Best Western Kinabalu Daya Hotel, Palace Hotel,Borneo Eco Tours, Borneo Nature Tours, Amazing Borneo Tour and Events andthe Krishen Jit Astro Fund,” she said.

A special thank you to festival supporters and sponsors Hotel Sixty3, ProArt, Sabah Computer Society, MVgreen, Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort, Acer Malaysia, Magellan Sutera Harbour, Imperial Boutec Hotel and Mr. Adam Tambakau.