(11/27/2011)
The 5th annual BALINALE International Film Festival held in Bali 15 – 20 November, 2011, came to a close with rave reviews from audience members and participating filmmakers for its solid line-up of films and interesting 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 evening saw many filmmakers, festival friends, supporters and sponsors in attendance where they were treated to a lavish dinner and special screening of The Magical World Of Silent Colour (Screen Archive South East, UK) followed by a glitzy after show party.
Shown on
Balidiscovery.com (left to right) Rima Melati, Honorary Chairperson of
BALINALE; Deborah Gabinetti, Festival Director; Magda Hutalgalung, Owner of
PT Dua Cahaya Anugrah (Owners of
W Retreat); and Farah Quinn, celebrity chef.
Among the visiting filmmakers and festival guests were Donna Smith, a respected film producer and former
Universal Pictures Senior Vice President responsible for numerous
Academy Award-winning films.
The final festival days saw a full house of excited young people attending this year’s
Free Children’s Program hosted by festival co-founder Christine Hakim and friend of the festival Didi Petet.
BALINALE also arranged transportation for 50 children from
Salam Children’s Home in Tabanan, West Bali, to join the festivities with a showing of
The Beetle Soldiers (Indonesia) and
Puss In Boots (USA).
Other films featured with filmmaker in attendance included;
Born To Be Wild (IMAX - USA) with writer/producer Drew Fellman on hand to introduce the film shot in Kalimantan. Other films with filmmakers in attendance included:
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."
Closing Night Party at
Warisan Restaurant saw the announcement of this year’s winners of the
2011 Audience Choice Awards.
- Best Feature Film Catatan Harian Si Boy by Putrama Tuta (Indonesia) was presented by Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia.
- Best Short Film went to Day In Day Out by Carl Valiquet (Canada/Indonesia) .
- Audience Appreciation Award went to Bali - Island Of The Dogs by Lawrence Blair and Dean Allan Tolhurst (Indonesia).
- Best Documentary Billy T: Te Movie by Ian Mune (New Zealand), a film that made its international premiere during the festival.
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