Bali Millis Preview and Information: [bali-bali] Done Bali in Melbourne

Rabu, 29 Oktober 2008

[bali-bali] Done Bali in Melbourne

Press Release - Paradise Exposed

Special screening - Done Bali at The Palace George Cinema St Kilda, 6.30pm Tuesday 4^th November

'Done Bali', paradise – for whom?

Prime Ministers, presidents, pop stars and poets have all 'done' Bali.

If any doubts remained of the whereabouts of this fabled island, then the 2002 terrorist bombings planted Bali firmly on the world map. Already well known to many Australians as a place for hedonistic holiday revelling in an atmosphere of exotic cultural overload, Bali has become entwined with Australian lives – for better and for worse.

15 years ago Kerry Negara took her film crew to Bali, and in a ground breaking documentary interviewed - for the first time - local Balinese about the traumatic history of their so called paradise island.

She did not find Nehru's, 'morning of the world', but rather an anxious society juggling the complexities of 'having one foot in the ancient world and one foot in the modern', in a constant struggle for day to day survival.

Kerry traces the political manipulations of the early 20^th century where bizarrely, in the colonial European imagination, Bali went from being a savage island to a paradise island almost overnight. Commercial interests have ensured this manufactured image endures.

In Ubud, the so called cultural heart of Bali, Kerry finds the disempowered aristocracy busily reinventing itself to take advantage of the financial boon of 'cultural tourism', while in the beach areas of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak a highly competitive group of expat manufacturers are partying and playing hard, creating havoc in their corner of paradise. Meanwhile the tourists are 'in a daze with the golden flowers, the incense and the amazing surf. Through their eyes it's all a happy paradise, where every child is a dancer and every farmer an artist.

While paying tribute to a resilient island people and a stunning tropical environment Done Bali will forever change the way you see this 'paradise island'.

Colour transparencies available. Kerry Negara is available for interviews :– m:0419 339 760 kerrynegara@bigpond.com

October 26, 08 – Kerry Negara: "I have just returned from the Ubud Writer's & Readers Festival in Bali where I overheard some international guests raving about the Balinese as 'a gentle, harmonious people at one with their gods and nature'. Ironically, the Balinese themselves have become very adept at presenting this unrealistic, one-dimensional image."

NOTE: Done Bali is being shown at The Palace George Cinema, Fitzroy St, St Kilda in a Cup night special with a retrospective of the delightful animated films of Oscar winning filmmaker Adam Elliot, together with rare archival footage of Melbourne Cup Day. Admission is $10 and proceeds go to unChain St Kilda – a group working to ensure appropriate development of the St Kilda Triangle Crown land.