9 Mins
Indonesia 2001
The documentary examines the violence between the indigenous Dayak people of Kalimantan and settlers from the nearby island of Madura. Since 1997, nearly 10,000 lives have been claimed. The violence is shocking because the Dayaks have reverted to their traditional practice of headhunting. In 2002, the documentary was broadcast on ARTE in France and SBS in Australia.
The Dayaks are a forest people whose culture and identity are inextricably linked with the tropical rainforest and peat swamp forests they have inhabited since the 11th Century. In the last 20 years, Indonesian Borneo has been the scene of an environmental apocalypse. Its forests have been logged (both legally and illegally) at a rate the World Bank considers 50 percent beyond sustainability. And the vast majority of its rivers have been poisoned by tailings from legal and illegal mining operations.
With the collapse of the Suharto regime and central Javanese authority, the island has exploded into violence.
The documentary puts that violence into the context of the destruction of the Kalimantan environment.
Directed and Produced by Eric Ransdall and Niall McKay
Editor: Roko Belic, the Oscar-nominated director of the documentary, Ghengis Blues
