Terraform
Novo Amor & Ed Tullett
2017 / 5:06 min
Terraform tells the true story of the hardships and sacrifices the sulphur miners of Kawah Ijen in Indonesia make in order to provide for their family.
Music Video | Fundraising Platform | Documentary | Original Story | Filmed September 10 - 13, 2017 | Film Sony FS7 | 1920x800 | 2:39 | Colour | Location Banyuwangi, Kawah Ijen, Indonesia | Premiere October 26, 2017, Youtube
Reach Youtube 2.3M+ | Vimeo 35K+
Special Mention Best Documentary Festival Internacional del Cortometraje FIC 2019, Argentina | Vimeo Staff Pick 2018 | Best Music Video Short Shorts, 2018, Tokyo, Japan | Nomination Best Music Video CamerImage 2018, Bydgoszcz, Poland | Nomination Best Cinematography in a Music Video CamerImage 2018, Bydgoszcz, Poland | Best Experimental Swiff South West London International Film Festival 2018, London, UK | Best Documentary 7th Visioni Corte International Film Festival 2018, Minturno, Italy | Best Documentary Cinematography International Film Festival Autumn At Voronet 2018, Gura H., Romania | Best Film Interactions Jury 13th SoleLuna Doc Film Festival 2018, Treviso, Italy | CortoNatura Award 21th Gran Paradiso Film Festival 2018, Cogne, Italy | Best Film Audience Award 16th Festival De Curtmetratges de Manlleu 2018, Manlleu, Spain | Best Short New Italians Jury Sole Luna Doc Film Festival 2018, Palermo, Italy | Best Short Mount Fuji, Atami Film & VR Festival 2018, Atami, Japan | Best Documentary Greenwich Village Film Festival 2018, New York, USA | Best Music Video Audience Choice Award 42nd Cleveland IFF 2018, Cleveland, USA | Special Mention Best Short International Jury Sole Luna Doc Film Festival 2018, Palermo, Italy | Special Mention Best Miglior Short Documentary Malescorto Int’ Short Film Festival 2018, Malesco, Italy | Special Jury Mention 6th International Audiovisual Festival Mambe 2018, Florencia, Colombia | Special Jury Mention Minidoc 2018, Polan, Toledo, Spain
Written & Directed by Jorik Dozy & Sil van der Woerd | Producer Sean Lin, New Frontier Pictures | DoP Nicholas Chin | Miner Bastomi | Wife Siti Sulaeha | Daughter Sifa Nur Hasanah | AD / Line Producer / Translator Bayu Topan | AC / BTS Skaiste Kazragyte | Fixer Vanya Safitri | Rigging Team Abdul Rohim, Panca Teguh Suparman, Catur Wahyudi, Sucintoro Satria Hadinata, Rahem, Kholifah Az-Zahro | Driver Sutik | Porters Sal, Santoso, Asia | Edit & Color Jorik Dozy, Sil van der Woerd | Compositer Gina Phoo, Germaine Phoo, Eugene Matthew, Cheong Onn Senye | Additional Miners Jaelani, Santoso, Asia, Jumanto, Sal, Bagyo | Music ‘Terraform’ by Novo Amor & Ed Tullett | Record Label Dave Grinnell, Andy Inglis, AllPoints | Thanks To Heinz von Holzen, smpn 1 giri banyuwangi (suspension school) | All Rights Reserved 2017 AllPoints
About The Project
When we learned about the miners of Kawah Ijen, we set out to tell their story as true as possible. When we met the miners in person, we realised that their story was so interesting, we simply had to tell it.
Together with about 100 more miners, Bas (the real miner featured in the video) extracts sulphur from the highly toxic crater of mount Ijen in Indonesia.
Two times a day the miners carry loads weighing up to 95KG each up to the rim of the volcano and down the mountain, all without the use of any modern tools or equipment. All for less than 10 dollars a day.
With a reduced life expectancy and deteriorating health, Bas sacrifices himself to sustain his family and give his children a future.
Production
To capture the video we followed Bas into the active volcano and experienced what the miners go through in a day's work; When the sulfur gasses hit us the cloud was so thick and big, there was no way to escape it.
Even with our gas masks and goggles on it was unbearable as the smoke stung our eyes and lungs, making it almost impossible to breath at times. But the miners have no masks or goggles. They simply wear a piece of cloth in front of their mouth.
We covered our camera to protect it from the toxic sulfur fumes so we could film right in the middle of it, getting the close ups of the miners in action. Few weeks later the camera died as the sulphur fumes completed destroyed the inside.
To achieve the effect of the family floating in mid air, we built an improvised rig in between trees on a school yard with the help of the local school teachers.
Watch The Story of Terraform, a behind the scenes documentary that dives into the hardships of the miners and their families.
Edit & Voice Over Jorik Dozy | Video Nicholas Chin, Skaiste
Ijen Assistance
We were so touched by the miners' story and their warmheartedness in spite of it, that we felt no other choice but to raise awareness and try to help them. We founded Ijen Assistance; a platform that raises funds to help the Ijen community. The project is linked to Heinz von Holzen, who found out about the miners long before us and put incredible effort into helping them. He introduced trolleys so that the miners no longer have to carry the sulphur down the mountain, his foundation sends the miners' children to school, and provides the miners with clothes and shoes.
Through the video and website we hope to inspire others. We learned that a relatively small sum of money to us, means a lot to the miners and literally takes an incredible weight off of their shoulders.
Visit: www.ijenassistance.com
Novo Amor & Ed Tullett's Visit
While travelling to Indonesia to perform a concert in Jakarta, artists Novo Amor and Ed Tullett took a detour in their trip and visited Kawah Ijen and Bas and his family.
They personally handed over the first check of donations collected through the Ijen Assistance project.
