INDAI APAI DARAH
A young girl growing up in the Indigenous-held forests of central Borneo follows ancient connections to earn the gift of a story - her People's 1973 fight to preserve their lands amid rampant deforestation.
Throughout the island of Borneo, an explosion of palm oil plantations has led to mass deforestation and forced many Indigenous Peoples to allow logging of their sacred forests in exchange for immediate profits. However, in the Indonesian village of Sungai Utik, elders of the Dayak Iban people have been able to repel these extractive companies and protect the surrounding forests. This short documentary, written and directed by 18-year-old Sungai Utik filmmaker Kynan Tegar, follows a young girl who makes a magical discovery while out in the woods, and learns of the brave deeds of her elders. Indai Apai Darah is a love letter to the trees, rivers and birds that surround Kynan’s village, as well as to the aging leaders who were able to safeguard their livelihoods. As Sungai Utik elder Apai Janggut says in the film “The Earth is our mother, the forest is our father, and the river is our blood.
Country of Origin: Indonesia
KYNAN TEGAR, Director
Throughout the island of Borneo, an explosion of palm oil plantations has led to mass deforestation and forced many Indigenous Peoples to allow logging of their sacred forests in exchange for immediate profits. However, in the Indonesian village of Sungai Utik, elders of the Dayak Iban people have been able to repel these extractive companies and protect the surrounding forests. This short documentary, written and directed by 18-year-old Sungai Utik filmmaker Kynan Tegar, follows a young girl who makes a magical discovery while out in the woods, and learns of the brave deeds of her elders. Indai Apai Darah is a love letter to the trees, rivers and birds that surround Kynan’s village, as well as to the aging leaders who were able to safeguard their livelihoods. As Sungai Utik elder Apai Janggut says in the film “The Earth is our mother, the forest is our father, and the river is our blood.
Country of Origin: Indonesia
KYNAN TEGAR, Director
Kynan Tegar is an 19-year-old photographer and filmmaker from the Dayak Iban tribe of the island of Borneo, Kalimantan, Indonesia. He is currently studying Social Anthropology at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. Growing up in and around the traditional longhouse of his village of Sungai Utik, he has learned directly from the elders, their wisdom and values, their stories of resistance in the face of encroaching deforestation, and the threats to their way of life.
Picking up his first camera as an inquisitive twelve year old, he was making his first short films soon after, and soon discovered the power of visual storytelling to communicate and change lives. Working with this new medium he crafts thoughtful and emotive imagery, highlighting the quiet daily lives of the people and the community within his tranquil village. He has won several awards and played film festivals throughout the world with his pensive and reverent style, highlighting his people’s traditional knowledge, and the importance of balance with nature.
Picking up his first camera as an inquisitive twelve year old, he was making his first short films soon after, and soon discovered the power of visual storytelling to communicate and change lives. Working with this new medium he crafts thoughtful and emotive imagery, highlighting the quiet daily lives of the people and the community within his tranquil village. He has won several awards and played film festivals throughout the world with his pensive and reverent style, highlighting his people’s traditional knowledge, and the importance of balance with nature.