26 April 2011
Jakarta(26/04)- A collaboration between Wakatobi Government, World Wide Fund for Nature Indonesia (WWF-Indonesia), and SET Film Workshop has produced a movie titled “The Mirror Never Lies” which spotlights the beauty of Indonesian sea. Directed by a young talented female director Kamila Andini, the film brings up the story of Bajau (or Bajo) Tribe in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, part of the global Coral Triangle.
Bajau people are famous as the great sailors. They live nomadic and are spread in all part of the world. They are easy to be found in the Coral Triangle area; the roughly triangular area of the tropical marine waters of six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Island, and Timor Leste. The site is identified as the richest marine biodiversities area in the world. Ironically, the world significant site has been facing serious threat due to the destructive fishing practices. Moreover, the climate change is also predicted as one of the factors which pose risk and challenges for the socio-economic condition of the people living around the area. 126 millions of people are under threat while thousands of key marine species are in the brink of extinction. The Bajau tribe, the sea wanderers who rely on the marine resources are likely to be highly vulnerable to the environmental degradation.
""As the climate change occurs and the marine behaviour changes, understanding the marine culture become essential, particularly for all Indonesian people whose country is best known as the world largest archipelagic country. The film is an effort to make viewers understand the marine culture. It is a story of those who live intimately with the sea. The sea delivers its messages with its own way. This is the most important part of the film,” Garin Nugroho, one of the producers of “The Mirror Never Lies”, said.
Reflection of the beauty and challenges in the global Coral Triangle is captured through a story of young Bajonese girl named Pakis. She is striving for searching his father who lost at the sea. Through a Bajau ritual using mirror, Pakis and her best friend try to find her father. On the contrary, Pakis’ mother is more pessimistic yet realistic dealing with the lost. Pakis’s mother often breaks her hope to meet the lost father again. As the emotional nuance emerges, a dolphin research scientist (Tudo) comes into their life.
“Coral Triangle is one of the world significant sites that have to be preserved. Through The Mirror Never Lies, WWF expects there will be more individuals or other institutions who give support and are willing to take part in protecting the biodiversities in the area. Global warming and climate change severely affect the sustainability of marine resources and the ecosystem in the Coral Triangle as well as the communities living around the area. Conservation involves people. Collective support and concern are urgently needed to make significant change. The conservation efforts in the Coral Triangle not only become the responsibility of the local government or WWF, but also all of us,” WWFIndonesia Marketing and Communication Director, Devy Suradji, emphasized.
Since late 2002, WWF has collaborated in a partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to assist the Wakatobi National Park authority to improve their management plan, zoning, and implementation of park management.
“To enhance good park management, we also involve the community. For instance we give assistance to the community how to implement sustainable fisheries. As a result, many new initiatives have been established by the community. They created fish bank in an attempt to maintain the fish stock. WWF also has been operating Menami boat in Wakatobi which is used to be underwater research station. We also involve the community to do the reef monitoring,” Devy added.
Meanwhile Wakatobi District Head, Hugua, said that “The Mirror Never Lies” is a creative communication media which is effective to help promote Wakatobi’s marine ecotourism sites and under water research.
“Now, Wakatobi has been known as an important marine life research center. Many researchers from various parts of Indonesia and other countries around the world have come to Wakatobi doing their research. This is our pride. Therefore, the efforts to protect the beauty and marine biodiversities in the area must be improved. Through the film, I expect there will be more and more concerned parties support our efforts here,” he said.
Also produced by Nadine Chandrawinata and starred by Atiqah Hasiohalan, Reza Rahadian, Gita Novalista, Eko, and Zainal, “The Mirror Never Lies” will be launched for public viewing in the beginning of May 2011. The film had also won an “Honorable Mention” by the Global Film Initiative on 14 April 2011, based on the categories: art aspect, the story telling, and its cultural perspective. For more information about the film, visit www.wwf.or.id/themirrorneverlies
For further information, please contact:

• Devy Suradji, Marketing & Communication Director WWF-Indonesia, dsuradji@wwf.or.id
• Shintya Kurniawan, Media Engagement Officer WWF-Indonesia skurniawan@wwf.or.id

Note to Editors
About Wakatobi
Located in the Southeast Sulawesi, this district was officially established in 2003. The name of Wakatobi is an acronym of the four main islands: Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko. As part of the Coral Triangle, around 90 percents of the globe’s 850 coral species or 750 species are found in Wakatobi. Wakatobi’s 1.39 million hectares of islands and waters were declared a National Park in 1996.
About WWF
World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) is a global conservation organization, a network organizations which operates in close to 100 countries worldwide. WWF-Indonesia is a part of this independent foundation, registered under Indonesian law. In carrying out its conservation work, WWF-Indonesia has 25 project offices in 17 provinces. This organization works with local governments through practical field projects, scientific research, advising local governments on environmental policy, promoting environmental education, empowering communities, and raising awareness on environmental issues. More info about WWF-Indonesia, visit www.panda.org; or our local sites www.wwf.or.id and WWF-Indonesia supporter website in www.supporterwwf.org
About SET Film Workshop
SET was established in 1987 by numbers of audio visual creators, the alumni of Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ). The initiators were internationally-acclaimed Garin Nugroho, Arturo GP, and many more. It aims at creating new film generation by accommodating the freedom of expression and pluralism of creation as well as strengthen collaboration and partnership with many communities as a strategy to enhance alternative space of creation and appretiation. SET believes this is the era of multidisciplines art, technology, and knowledge. Therefore, SET produces many art works with more various and fresh appreciation.
About Coral Triangle
The terminology The Coral Triangle emerged in 2009 after the World Ocean Conference was conducted in Manado Indonesia. The Coral Triangle refers to a roughly triangular area of the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. Covering only 2% of the world’s ocean, the Coral Triangle contains 76% of all known coral species. The Coral Triangle also becomes the nursery area where fish and other marine species breed and grow, before they travel thousands of miles to another ocean area. Therefore, this area is significant for the life cycle of marine species.