SAWAH: BALI FARMERS FIGHTING THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

CREDITS

SAWAH (2016) 
a Marko Randelovic film



Website: markorandelovic.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/markorandelovic
Twitter: twitter.com/markorandelovic
Instagram: instagram.com/markorandelovic

Special Thanks:
Dayu Saras Tantri
Agus Arthawan
Made Anggir
Sawah Bali

Ricefield.gif

Story

Bali's tourism industry continues to break records with an increasing number of people arriving on the shores of the mystical Hindu island each year.

However with the development of the tourism industry has come the decline of Bali's sought after lush green landscapes. The famous rice field's of Bali are one of the island's most popular tourist attractions, yet these paddies are being concreted over on a daily basis to build villas - for the tourists.

I made Ada

Foreign investors and large hotel corporations are offering relatively poor farmers huge wheelbarrows of cash in return for their ancestral land. Many farmers jump at the chance of gaining such a fortune, yet others have decided to take a stand and continue their traditional way of life.

Sawah looks at the story of one farmer who has refused copious amounts of money from investors which have already started disrupting the local community.

Harapan.gif

Filming

I shot this film whilst living in Bali for 6 months in 2016 between Ubud and Canggu. This was my first time visiting the island and Sawah was the first of 4 films I shot during my time there. When you land in Bali you instantly notice that the tourist industry here is booming and development is constantly taking place. Since I shot this film, many of the rice fields I cherished in Canggu and Ubud have turned into building sites or are hotels already.

It’s not our place to tell people what to do and it’s positive that people are able to make money for themselves and their families through selling land, but it’s important to understand the implications this level of rapid hotel development puts on the Balinese landscape, culture and people in the long term.