The Burning Season

Cathy Henkel at TFF press conference

The Burning Season's producer/director/writer Cathy Henkel was one of a hand picked selection of filmmakers to participate in the opening press conference for the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Here she is (second from left) pictured on stage with some of the festival's heavy weights, including Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman.

Cinema trailer launched online

Ahead of the world premiere of the feature-length cinema version of The Burning Season this Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the new cinema trailer has just been released online.

The first two screenings at Tribeca - at 6.15pm on Saturday 25 April and at 3pm on Sunday 26 April - have already sold out. 

Producer/director/writer Cathy Henkel is in New York where, a few hours ago, she participated in a news conference with Robert de Niro to launch the festival.

Cathy's daughter SamLara twittered recently, saying she and Cathy had met de Niro, along with Uma Thurman, in the green room at the Tribeca Film Festival.

You can keep up with more news from Tribeca by following The Burning Season Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/burningseason

Cathy Henkel interviewed on Guangzhou TV

In December, director Cathy Henkel travelled to China at the invitation of the Guangzhou International Documentary Conference. She was one of 40 international producers invited to the week long event to present her company and work to Chinese delegates, including other producers, commissioning editors and distributors. The event included a boat trip down the Pearl River, an official opening event, an awards night and numerous other social functions and opportunities to get out into the city and explore the local environment and culture. The Australian Consul-General to Guangzhou, Sean Kelly, organized a press conference for the six Australians at the event. Cathy was interviewed on Guangzhou TV and took part in a web cast for an online news service - Sohu Studio. The link to this interview is: 

http://gd.sohu.com/s2008/interview-cathyhenkel/index.shtml 

The outcomes of the China week for THE BURNING SEASON include an invitation to launch the film there early next year in a red carpet event in conjunction with the China launch of Baz Luhrmann's AUSTRALIA, starring Hugh Jackman (the narrator of THE BURNING SEASON). The film will also be screened in five universities and is being considered for a major film festival in Shanghai and for a documentary channel. 

Cathy at Sohu.com for webcast interview

Cathy and fellow Australians with Consul-General Sean Kelly after their press conference

Dorjee and Aceh's Rock & Roll Governor meet THE GOVERNATOR

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:

The first day at Governor Schwarzenegger's Global Climate Summit was eventful. I filmed him during his opening address and during a tour of a renewable energies expo. He also signed a MOU with several governors from Indonesia and Brazil including Governor Irwandi of Aceh. Arnie appears larger than life, even up close, and has a great sense of humour.

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:

 

Cathy Henkel reports from New York and films updates with Dorjee Sun and Abyd Karmali

As reported earlier, Cathy Henkel travelled to the USA in September 2008 to tussle with some heavy hitters: the UN, the World Bank, international distributors, sales agents, and Al Gore. While there she also filmed some exclusive reports for The Burning Season web site, which you can watch by clicking on the following links:

Cathy Henkel's report on the New York trip
Dorjee Sun provides update on Aceh Project
Dorjee Sun discusses making money from the environment
Abyd Karmali discusses the impact of the Wall Street turbulence on the Aceh Project
Abyd offers his views on the impact of The Burning Season
 

The Burning Season wins acclaim

‘The Burning Season’, the new documentary by award-winning filmmakers Cathy Henkel and Jeff Canin from Hatchling Productions, has been nominated for two 2008 ATOM Awards: Best Documentary Social & Political Issues and Best Documentary Science, Technology and The Environment.

The ATOM Awards are run by the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) and take place in Melbourne on 24 October.

The world premiere of ‘The Burning Season’ took place only last Saturday, on 2 August, at the Brisbane International Film Festival. After a second screening on Monday 4 August, Cathy Henkel said she was delighted to learn that the documentary was leading the race for the most popular film at the festival, as voted by audiences.

After each session, audience members at the Brisbane International Film Festival are encouraged to rate the film they have just seen using Showtime voting slips. 'The Burning Season’ was ranked number one as at Tuesday 5 August, ahead of 'Rain of the Children’ and 'The English Surgeon’. The overall audience vote winner will be announced at the end of the festival.

‘The Burning Season’ focuses on the land-clearing fires lit annually in Indonesia and explores their catastrophic impact: as well as destroying the habitat of critically-endangered orangutan, they contribute 20% of global carbon emissions.

The documentary follows a 29-year-old Australian environmental entrepreneur, Dorjee Sun, who sets out to find a solution. His idea involves selling the carbon credits represented by large forest areas in three Indonesian provinces to big polluters in the West. Despite the scepticism surrounding carbon trading, Dorjee’s quest for a ‘big deal’ takes him from Sydney to New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and London.

In the United States, PBS broadcast the documentary to widespread acclaim last month (see www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/burning-season/introduction/1627/) and it airs on BBC Four at 10pm tonight in the United Kingdom. Read the review in The Times.

‘The Burning Season’ will appear on the ABC (Australia) on 14 October 2008. It is narrated by popular Australian actor Hugh Jackman (‘X-Men’, ‘Australia’, ‘The Prestige’).

Pictured below:
1. Cathy Henkel and Dorjee Sun at the world premiere
2. (From left to right) SamLara Canin-Henkel, Sandra Cook, Dorjee Sun and Felicity Blake
3. (From left to right) 'The Burning Season' web team Nathan Betts, Yari McGauley, Kerry Sunderland

Director's reflections on final cut of the documentary

The Burning Season is going to be a controversial documentary. Already in test screenings I have found that audiences are forming very different opinions of Dorjee and his carbon trading solution. Some say that saving forests is so important and urgent that they don't care what method is used. Others argue the merits of carbon trading or say it just won’t work. And there are those who are concerned with where the profits from the scheme will go. The film has already generated heated discussion on these issues. My objective in telling this story is to give audiences the opportunity to observe a young man as he goes on a quest to find a solution to the forest crisis, see the huge obstacles and opposition he confronts, and despite enormous odds, watch him pull off a big deal. Who actually benefits from the deal remains a central question of the film. No-one yet knows the answer. This is a pioneer scheme and there are no precedents. We do know that a major international bank, Merrill Lynch, are prepared to risk millions on the scheme. Only a sequel will reveal whether it delivers on its promises, and who will ultimately benefit from the deal. At least in the short-term it will ensure that 750,000 hectares of forest will not be logged, that 1000 ex-combatants have been recruited to protect the forest, and that the habitat of numerous endangered species, including the Sumatran orangutan, will be protected.      

The audience for this film will include sceptics and optimists. The sceptics will most likely conclude the concept is flawed, Dorjee's motivation is purely selfish and the scheme probably won't work. The film does not preclude them from forming that view. Achmadi’s entire story-line is about the difficulties and improbability of the money from carbon trading ever reaching the village level. Carbon trading as a concept is questioned by various protagonists in the film and at almost every meeting Dorjee attends in the middle section of the film. The skeptics can draw their own conclusions.      

I personally do not have great admiration for sceptics. They thrive on criticising the efforts of others and succeed only in putting the brakes on new ideas and innovation. They slow progress and stunt enthusiasm. They usually take the high moral ground saying they are being 'realistic' or 'smart'. But their opinions are based on the assumption that because something happened in the past, the same thing is likely to happen in the future. They negate the concept that change is possible, and they work from the assumption that human nature is fundamentally flawed. These are not views I share. I think skeptics often take the lazy way out. It is far easier to criticise something than to go out and try to fix the problem or invent something new.

Personally I am more interested in the views of young people and optimists. This film can be read as a story of hope – there are young entrepreneurs out there who are looking for solutions to the global crisis we face. Dorjee’s quest can be interpreted as an inspiration for other young people that change is possible. It shows a young man making it his quest to find a solution to the enormous problems we face on this planet. Whether he succeeds or not, he is not just accepting the world as it is. He is looking for new ways of saving forests. And he proposes the radical idea that making money from saving the environment is possible.

There are two major areas of controversy raised in this film which I deal with in more detail on our forum; the debate about carbon trading and Dorjee’s motivation in setting up his scheme. I see Dorjee as a flawed and fascinating character, and I see his solution, and carbon trading in general, as a flawed but necessary solution. Without some form of carbon trading, I doubt we have a hope of stopping the mass destruction of forests in the next decade. And without protection of forests, and giving a value to the services they provide to the planet, solving the climate change crisis seems less likely. I hope that the film continues to raise these issues and that heated discussion will continue after every screening of the film.

Shooting the final scenes of the film at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali

The Conference ran for two weeks and was tasked with coming up with an agreed ‘roadmap’ for discussions over the next two years on the second phase of the Kyoto protocol after 2012. The UN process requires consensus from all participating countries, which included the USA. There over 10,000 people representing 180 countries, and this was always going to be an enormous challenge. I hadn’t considered what might happen if the parties failed to reach consensus or how close we would come to that happening.

We arrived at the Conference centre on the Monday of the first week to hear that already the Australian delegation had been greeted with a standing ovation. This was due to Kevin Rudd’s announcement that his first action as Australia’s new Prime minister would be to ratify the Kyoto protocol.   

Our crew for this last leg of the film consisted of me, Esther our fearless cinematographer, Jeff doing sound and SamLara, our 15 year old daughter as PA and stills photographer. She was the youth reporter for a webcast for the NSW Education Department focussed on climate change. This involved doing a video report on the major activities taking place in Bali associated with the conference and lining up two guests for a live webcast on the first Friday at 11am. Our assistant director, Felicity Blake also joined us in Bali, but on this occasion, she was working for both a US environment group and for Dorjee, helping them organise the Green Governor’s Dinner. 

The first week was relatively quiet. The leaders were all due to arrive in the second week, so this was a time for the negotiators to bunker down in backrooms and work out deals. Dorjee was doing a lot of strategy meetings and preparing for the dinner he was hosting for the Governors of four provinces; Aceh, Papua, West Papua and Amizonas. There was a significant amount of lobbying and activities to promote REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) which was the main issue of concern at this conference for our characters. And almost all of our characters were in Bali. Governor Irwandi and Governor Bas were promoting their innovative forest protection and carbon trading projects. Patrick was there to speak for the indigenous people’s of the forest and ensure REDD negotiations took account of their rights. Hardi was there to speak for the orangutans. And of course, Dorjee was there to pull together all the players associated with his ambitious project and to announce it to the world. And he was there to monitor the outcomes of the conference, particularly in relation to the forests. The stage was set for the final show-down.

Some highlights of the first week included:
•    An innovative and impressive Balinese dance performance created to signify the importance of the forests in relation to climate change.
•    The Indonesian Minister of Forestry launching his REDD proposal with Governors Irwandi of Aceh and Governor Bas of Papua at his side – a symbolic breakthrough for the two Governors.
•    Greenpeace honouring Governor Bas at the launch of their forest protection strategy
•    Wetlands International’s awareness raising event that included the Governor of Kalimantan. Hardi Baktianoro arrived from Borneo to attend this event. 

Hardi is the brave and resolute campaigner we met in the remote areas of Kalimantan capturing footage of illegal logging and the destruction of orangutan habitat. He was Lone’s right hand man at the orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre until he decided to strike out on his own to take more direct action to protect orangutans.  He came to Bali with his photographic and video evidence, determined to show it to someone with the power to stop the destruction. At the Wetlands International event, he fronted up to the Governor of Kalimantan and told him what he had seen. The Governor had just been at the podium expressing his determination to protect the forests, and was in an open and sympathetic mood. He promised to meet with Hardi after the conference to examine his evidence and take immediate action. Throughout the conference, there were signs and a sensibility that ‘the world is watching’. This was very clear to the Governor of Kalimantan as we filmed his meeting with Hardi and recorded his promise to do something.

Dorjee’s Green Governor’s event was scheduled for the Friday night of the first week. There was some drama leading up to the event, arising from the juggling act of trying to get four headstrong governors into one room at the same time to discuss their common interests. Dorjee’s resilience and charm were once again called into play, resulting in an evening of important relationship building, significant gestures, charm and humour and another milestone in Dorjee’s long hike to achieving success. As he so eloquently put it as his guests were leaving; this is an end but not the end.

At this stage, Dorjee was still hoping for a major breakthrough at Bali. He needed a commitment from the delegates in the main plenary on including REDD in the second phase Kyoto agreement. He also wanted a signed and sealed deal on his Aceh and Papua projects before the conference ended. He wasn’t getting much sleep.

In the second week of the Conference, the temperature soared. As the world leaders flew into the sweltering Bali heat, the pace and stakes were lifted and the debate got heated. Greenpeace brought in balloons with giant eyeballs and slogans to remind the delegates that “The World is Watching”. The number of side events and related activities increased. We attended the launch by the President of Indonesia of the orangutan protection program with Australian environment minister Peter Garrett and Terri Irwin as guest speakers.

We also heard Sir Nicholas Stern give his assessment of the targets needed to avert a catastrophe, and Al Gore stridently criticising his own country for lack of action and poor leadership. And we were there when Kevin Rudd received the prolonged applause from the entire world for his leadership in signing the Kyoto protocol as his first major act as Prime Minister. It was a proud moment for Australia. We managed to get access to a meeting between our prime Minister and Sir Nicholas that was fun to be part of, even though we were only allowed to film the two men shaking hands and laughing.  That evening Kevin Rudd hosted an event for all Australians in Bali. It was informal and relaxed, and no filming was allowed, but we were very impressed to see Kevin mingling with the crowd at length and taking the time to talk to people. He even had a chat with Sam, and gave her a warm hug for the camera. Finally this 15 year old has a Prime Minister she can respect and leaders such as Al Gore and that she can look up to and admire.  In the final days of the conference, she threw herself into the youth activism program with renewed vigour and enthusiasm that made her parents very proud.

Friday was meant to be the final day of the conference. But by midnight, the delegates still had not agreed on the broad principals of the next phase of the agreement. Word got out that the USA was obstructing progress. Not knowing when the delegates would return to the main plenary hall, we were ready to sleep on the floor of the media area so as not to miss anything. Then we heard that the translators had packed up, so we ducked back to our hotel for a few hours sleep, and were back on our balcony by 7am.

The final day was one of high drama as the pressure to reach an agreement mounted in the room and around the world. The two USA representatives were sitting near enough to us to get a close up. When they announced that they could not support the agreement, known as the ‘Bali Roadmap’, because the developing nations weren’t making a strong enough commitment to reducing emissions, the room erupted with loud booing. The developing countries then went on the offensive. They urged, pleaded, cajoled and even begged the USA to show leadership or “get out of the way”. The pressure on the two US delegates was enormous, and eventually they gave in and agreed to support the proposal. The room erupted in cheers. The entire world had agreed on one thing. It was a fine moment.

There was one more vital piece of business. The inclusion of REDD into the next round of Kyoto was put to the delegates and agreed unanimously. Dorjee was in the room wearing a radio mic and his small whoop of relief and joy was understated but deeply felt. This was a profound moment for Dorjee, for the forests and for the orangutans. It means that mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, including carbon trading deals, are now on the table for talks that map out the new 2012 climate treaty. While that is still five years off, the agreed text offers retroactive benefits for ‘early action’ that protects forests today. This is the outcome Dorjee wanted and needed to build confidence and credibility into his carbon trading deal for the forests of Aceh and Papua. Although he wasn’t able to get a signed deal in Bali, the acceptance of avoided deforestation into the next global treaty provides him with the missing piece of the puzzle to push the deal through.

With the conference finally over, we all headed for the beach. I filmed Dorjee surfing and relaxing at a beach side café. And then the storm that had been building for days broke and the rain came bucketing down. Dorjee walked out into the storm, and unaware that I was filming, raised his hands to the heavens and let the rain pour over him. It was a magic moment, a Shawshank moment, and a fitting end to our film. 

Where to from here? We are back in Australia, and the editing has begun. For the next four months, editor Jane St. Vincent Welch and I will be attempting to bring the almost 200 hours of footage down to a 90 minute film. It feels a bit like trying to squash an elephant into a matchbox. The action spans four continents over 10 months. The story is vast, the characters compelling, and the issues complex. Our challenge is to make these complex issues clear while maintaining a strong dramatic narrative and the right mix of humour, gravity, tragedy and triumph. Watch out for a world premier sometime around early May. 

Cathy Henkel
December 2007.

The West Coast and back to New York

We arrived on the US West coast to be met by blustery San Francisco winds and a major drop in temperature. We were also joined by Leonard, our principal cinematographer. We located with the entire Acehnese delegation in a hotel in the financial district, and finally caught up with Dorjee. He had been in Sydney at the APEC meetings and was still recovering from the Australian government announcement that $100 million had been allocated to protect forests in Kalimantan. Good news for forest habitat (and the orangutans) in that province, but the Governor and Dorjee were puzzled as to why Aceh had been overlooked, given their intense lobbying and the Governor’s declaration of a logging moratorium. With his usual relentless optimism, Dorjee resolved to make an even stronger push for Australian government support for the Aceh project in Bali in December. Governor Irwandi is scheduled to give a speech there, and Dorjee hopes to announce some voluntary partners in carbon trading at this event.  He was feeling the pressure even more intensely now to get the first deal locked off and signed.

In San Francisco, there were meetings and discussions with various business groups, and Dorjee gave a presentation on carbon trading. We also went sight seeing with the Governor’s wife, Darwati A. Gani, (known to us as Ibu), and did an interview with her under the Golden Gate Bridge. She told us of her experience of the tsunami and the aftermath and how her life has changed since Irwandi became Governor. She also spoke very openly about his passion for the forests, how he is coping with the stresses of being Governor and this US trip.

Dorjee made a trip to San Jose to meet with EBay, the world’s largest online trading and shopping service with over 500 million users. The executives of EBay are keen to be at the forefront of carbon trading possibilities and expressed great interest in working with Dorjee to set up online opportunities and direct customers to the Indonesian forest project. This response gave Dorjee a much needed burst of encouragement and the energy to keep going.

The next major meeting was in Seattle at Starbucks. This was a tough meeting, but Dorjee managed to speak personally with Chairman Howard Schultz, who was very interested and keen to hear more. The Governor and his delegation gave a strong and compelling presentation and then sampled all the various brands of Starbucks coffee in a jovial and entertaining tasting atmosphere.  The US tour was almost at an end, and there was relief, exhaustion and a sense of achievement affecting both the delegation and our crew.   

While on the West Coast, the delegation also visited a biofuel plant outside of Seattle and the Governor visited his alma mater, Oregon State University.  On campus, he gave us an extended interview about his past, the war, the tsunami and life since he became Governor.

In Seattle, our crew stayed with a school friend of mine and her husband from Johannesburg that I had only seen once in the past 30 years. We had much to catch up on, and they took me to a magnificent forest and a snow cave north of Seattle.

We said goodbye to the Governor and his wife, LeRoy the Governor’s advisor and other members of the delegation in Seattle. They flew directly back to Aceh from there. Leonard also left us in Seattle, and headed for a film festival in New Zealand. Dorjee will be heading back east so we planned to meet up with him again in New York.  Flying back into the Big Apple, I was filled with the sweet feeling of success and achievement, bathed in total exhaustion. We have captured some amazing footage, achieved what we came for, formed some strong friendships and had a good dose of fun along the way. The last four days in New York would be more relaxed without the delegation to chase after. We filmed some missing scenes, such as the UN building is session, adorned with flags and an angry protest against George Bush outside, Central Park, Times Square at night, and the life of this indefatigable and alluring city. 

Handi, Felicity and I had a celebration dinner and some cheesecake in Times Square. Tomorrow I say goodbye to them.  Handi heads back to Indonesia and Felicity will stay in New York for a week or two, filming Dorjee in Washington and catching up with friends.   

I fly back to Australia on Thursday. And then the editing begins...