Director of 'The Burning Season' Cathy Henkel is currently in Los Angeles filming the Governors' Global Climate Summit, hosted by none other than the Governor to end all Governors: Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The GGCS brings together governors from climate-sensitive states worldwide, with the aim of discussing the outlook for a comprehensive global
agreement on climate solutions that prevents the world passing the
“tipping point” (as described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The GGCS also plans to conclude a cooperative Summit
Declaration on climate solutions, which is basically an agreement between all the governors to implement meaningful strategies o prevent climate change.
Segments of the Summit are available for online viewing at www.uctv.tv/climate
The goal for the documentary makers was to shoot a scene which will appear in the upcoming feature-length 'Director's Cut' of the documentary, slated for a cinema release in 2009.
Cathy reports from Beverly Hills, California:
Stay tuned to the Blog for updates on the progress of the Director's Cut.
Meanwhile, here are some photos from the shoot in LA:
I’d been warned, and I expected to feel a great wave of sadness roll over me when I arrived in Aceh. The aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 can still be felt in the air I’d been told. But I didn’t feel sadness. From the moment we landed in Banda Aceh, the capital of the beleaguered province, I felt a sense of optimism, new possibilities, like the small green sprouts on the burnt trees after a forest fire. Or perhaps that’s just me, and a reflection of my outlook at the time. Getting to Aceh had been my objective ever since I’d met Governor Irwandi in Bali five months earlier. I wanted to see the province he is now in charge of and to film the pristine rainforests he is committed to saving. And here I am! After all the effort of writing submissions, editing teasers, cajoling broadcasters, raising funds, getting permits…we are here. Now I just had to get up close and personal with the Governor, convince him to take us with him on one of his snap visits to outer regions where the illegal logging is happening, and find and film the magnificent forests of this region. Anything seemed possible on our first day in Aceh. 
We checked into the Yellow House in the outer suburbs and began exploring. I have to admit there were large gulps of sadness, and even shock, in those first few days before we actually got to see the Governor. Behind our accommodation was an orphanage housing young boys who had lost their parents in the tsunami. Hearing them chant their prayers several times a day was a constant reminder of how much people had lost to the ‘big wave’. We visited a large ship that had run aground five kilometres inland from the ocean during the tsunami. It is now under guard by a handful of teenagers, most of whom lost parents or family that day. We went to the beach where giant stumps of forest trees stood on the sand. This used to be the forest, we were told, and two miles out to sea were villages that just don’t exist any more. At one point the wave was 35m high. That is almost beyond comprehension. But standing on the beach looking out to sea and thinking about the 180 thousand people who died that day, I was engulfed by the horror and the enormity of what nature is capable of. It made me feel very small and humble, and yet more determined that ever to make this film. Understanding and respecting the power and balance of nature, particularly the value of the earth’s trees and rainforests, is one of the central themes of the film. 
So we went in search of the Governor. His aides kept us at arms length at first. We filmed him at a birthday celebration for a major bank in Aceh, at the mosque where tsunami orphans were being honoured and given financial support, and turning the soil with the governor of Jakarta on a tsunami memorial project. However, when he saw me in the crowd, he recognised me and came over to chat. This helped to get us our first personal meting with him, at the official residence. I told him what we were really after; a day with him driving his car out of town to confront illegal loggers – just as he had done with the journalist from the New York Times. 
But I am jumping ahead. First we had to find the pristine rainforest. We went to Fauna and Flora International (one of the oldest conservation groups in the world) and met Wibi and Graham Usher. They told us about the elephant rehabilitation centre about 4 hours from Banda Aceh and we secured permission to visit. This is a place where captured or injured elephants are brought for recovery and to be trained to assist local farmers. There are approximately 60 elephants at the centre, with a very dedicated volunteer staff. Felicity and I were offered the chance to ride on an elephant, and without a moments hesitation, Felicity was up and off. I must admit I looked at the size of the animal with its massive tusks and did wonder if I was crazy or not. But when Storm, the elephant I rode, knelt down in front of me and offered his leg for me to stand on, how could I resist? The staff hauled me up, and I’m so glad I took the chance. It was a ride I will never forget. Felicity called her father to tell him she was calling from the back of an elephant, and without a second’s hesitation he asked, “Is this a trunk call?” 
Graham also told us of a pristine waterfall deep in the forest that you can only reach by boat. It would take a day to get there, but, they claimed, it would be worth it. And they were right. On both counts. We travelled for about 9 hours down the Western road that had been wiped out by the tsunami and was being re-built. We slept for about 4 hours in a dormitory in Chalang owned by FFI, battling the heat and mosquitoes, and woke up at 2.30am to continue our journey. At dawn we arrived at the river, and hopped into a boat with half a dozen villagers and set off. The river was low, so often we had to walk the boat across the rapids. 
We finally reached the waterfall at midday. It was sublime and well worth the effort. Ezther and Handi captured stunning pictures and sound and Felicity took some great photos. I felt privileged to see a place like this and sat on a log inhaling the scene, knowing that I would have to call on this moment many times during the making of this film. This forest, and others like it, is the reason we are doing this. We need to preserve places like this; yes they are the lungs of the earth and vital as stores of carbon, but also they have an inherent beauty, which I was now lucky enough to experience first hand. 
The following morning we were called to the Governor’s residence early in the morning to accompany him and his wife on one of their outings. We were bundled into the convoy of five vehicles, with the Governor leading the way at high speed. We didn’t know where we were going, or why, or whether we’d survive the high speed assault on the narrow mountain roads, but we knew we were in for some kind of mad adventure. And we were right. We crossed a river on a ferry that was the size of a single vehicle and was propelled by a man (or several men) pulling us across by a rope. When we reached the second river which had no ferry, the Governor ploughed his car through the water, and the rest of us waded through the river. 
Our destination was a remote village that has never in its history been visited by a Governor. In fact, only one vehicle had made it to the village before we got there, and it was now a rusted relic on the side of the road. The purpose of our visit was for the Governor to confront the locals who are still involved in logging operations to instruct them that they must stop. He told them about his moratorium, and why he had declared it, and advised them to return to their coffee plantations. He told them he was off to the USA soon to talk to coffee buyers, to secure finance for small start-up loans, and to lobby for carbon finance to protect the remaining rainforest around them. The villagers listened attentively and agreed in principle to his instructions. The governor now has to deliver on his end of the bargain. 
We stayed one more day, which included a dinner at the formal Governor’s residence with a delegation of businessmen from Singapore who came to talk about power supplies to Aceh and the potential of the emerging bio-fuel industry. The evening included traditional dancers and music from Aceh. We said our farewells that night, as we had to leave the next morning to return to Australia. The next time we would see the Governor would be in New York. 