Borneo Eco Film Festival 2016: Smaller scale, wider
KOTA KINABALU: The Borneo Eco Film Festival (BEFF), Sabah’s homegrown annual green event, returns this October with workshops, talks and films screenings open to the public for free.
This year’s festival, now in its sixth year running, will be held on a smaller scale in terms of screening capacity but increases its community reach through a variety of public programmes.
“This year, Suria Sabah is our generous venue sponsor and we’ve decided to create a more laid-back atmosphere for the environmental cinema. Taking place at the Event Hall on the 5th floor of the shopping mall, our seating capacity is just under 100 pax, making it a more intimate and casual affair,” said Festival Director, Melissa Leong.
Award-winning international and local films will be screened on October 8 and 9 and admission is free.
An integral part of BEFF is the Suara Community Filmmaking Programme that brings together some 40 participants from various local communities around Sabah to learn how to harness the power of film to communicate their worldviews, opinions and stories.
These community filmmakers, who range from beginner to intermediate levels of expertise, will have a chance to have their completed films screened during the festival on Sunday, October 9 at 6:45pm. All are welcome for the screening.
Film enthusiasts can also enjoy the Publika Fringe Screenings during which selected films will be showing at partner venues: The Wound and The Gift on October 3, at Sharikat Biru Biru, Acid Ocean on October 4 at Meet+Wine Bistro and Umi Yama Aida on October 5 at PACOS.
BEFF has also widened its reach this year by introducing the Youth Outreach Programme and the BEFF team is visiting selected learning institutions (colleges, universities and secondary schools) to present environmental talks and focus on the power of storytelling and filmmaking to educate, engage and uplift.
“We hope to create awareness and inspire our urban youth to be future movers and shakers in our social and environmental landscapes,” said BEFF co-founder, Dr Agnes Agama.
Among the schools involved so far are SM St. Francis Convent, SM St. Michael Penampang, Tshung Tsin Secondary School, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sabah, University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF), Asian Tourism Institute (ATI) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
Agama added the program would end on Sept 30 and the organisers had also introduced a Snapchat story competition for the students with the theme “sun, sea and sand’.
Entries are one to three minutes long and posted online, she said, adding that the winners would be announced during the BEFF.
There will be 14 films screened during BEFF’s festival weekend and Publika Fringe Screenings and according to Agama, this year’s films were selected based on their messages and its delivery, and its relevance to the people of Sabah.
“These chosen films highlight the need and urgency for mankind to lead a more sustainable living. We need to remember that the environment and people’s lives are intertwined, and in our quest for progress, there is a need to be kinder and less impactful to the environment,” said Agama.
BEFF opens on Saturday night with a short animation, The Sea Is Blue; a charming tale of how the sea got its colour, followed by another marine-themed film, Plastic Paradise, which addresses the issue of plastic waste. Japanese film Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night makes a South East Asian debut, featuring artists and scientists on different continents working to understand firefly flash patterns and how to live among wildlife in urban settings.
The Grandfather Drum is another short animation focusing on the indigenous voice – it follows the story of a drum with healing powers, based on a North American First Nation legend. Oil & Water makes an Asian premiere during BEFF on the 8th of October.
It features the true story of two boys’ coming of age– an American and another from the Amazonas they confront the problem of reckless oil drilling. The evening ends with a riveting film, Bikes VS Cars, bringing us to the streets of Sao Paulo, Copenhagen, LA and Toronto to see how the bicycle can be a great tool for change.
“This issue is very relevant to Kota Kinabalu as more people have taken up cycling as their selected mode of transportation so we actually have the Kota Kinabalu Cycling Association to present the film. The association’s representative will also be presenting a little talk about this issue in the state capital”, Leong added.
On October 9, the afternoon kicks off with a local compilation, Big Stories Small Town, BongkudNamaus, Ranau by Sabahan film maker, Nadira Ilana. KK residents will enjoy The Heart of Gaya Street which follows at 3pm. In the evening, Canadian film Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story will prove to be an eye-opener.
The film makers document their journey as they pledge to stop grocery shopping and eat only discarded food, highlighting the global problem of food wastage. A touching tale of music amidst trying conditions is told in Landfill Harmonic, showcasing the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage.
The festival ends with K2 and The Invisible Footmen – an intriguing look at the porters and sherpas who risk their lives on a daily basis, guiding climbers along K2.
K2 and The Invisible Footmen director Iara Lee and preproduction researcher William Lee will also be making an appearance and introducing the film at the festival.
Films will be screened from 5pm to 10pm on Saturday, October 8 and from 1.30pm to 10pm on Sunday, October 9. There will also be a talk on Drone Filming by local film maker Andy Chia on Sunday, 12 noon at the event venue. A variety of NGOs, craft makers and artists will be opening booths throughout the festival weekend.
BEFF main festival partners are the Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry of Sabah, Yayasan Hasanah, US Embassy Kuala Lumpur, Resource Development and Information Technology Ministry and Suria Sabah.
It is also supported by Lembaga Penapis Filem Malaysia, Perbadanan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS), Kinabalu Daya Hotel, Scubazoo, Sticky Rice Travel, Sharikat Biru-Biru, Meet+Wine Bistro, PACOS, The Sabah Society and Sabah Tourism Board.
For updates and the screening schedule, visit www.beff.org.my or find them on Facebook: Borneo Eco Film Festival, Instagram (@beffsuara) and Twitter (@ beffsuara).