The Fire Dance, Raja Ampat

Admin
Aug 29, 2014
2 min read

Updated: Oct 7, 2021

Another exciting project from Indonesian Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy! This is the second time the Anatman team has been to Raja Ampat.

About 3 months ago, Anatman staff travelled there to cover the locals being shown how to create handicrafts, furniture and signage to support the tourism and creative industry in Raja Ampat.

Last week, we made the journey again to cover the results of that training and documented the first international event held in Raja Ampat called ‘Sail Raja Ampat’.

As well as the training film, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy asked us to make another documentary to cover the Sail Raja Ampat event. They wanted more than us to simply document the event, so we came up with the idea to make a profile video about one of the dancers that would be performing in Sail Raja Ampat.

After two days of searching amongst hundreds of people that would be performing for the event for a suitable subject for this film, our Director, Putra, met with one of the dancers, Mia.

Mia showing her braiding.

Face painting before the show.

Edo Kondologit, the famous Papuan singer, performing infront of the President.

Mia’s dorm.

Shooting in the forest just behind Mia’s dorm.

Ready for island hopping!

Our producer, Imam, is preparing Mia for filming.

Mia is the type of person that will make an immediate impression. She’s firm and the kids around her look up to her as their leader. She’s young, beautiful, and knows what she wants from her life. She has dreamed of becoming a dancer ever since she was a child. She has a dream to introduce Papua’s dance and art to the world.

Shooting her was not an easy task amid her very busy dance schedule. Also the sun was not as happy as usual, and we failed to capture sunset moments for 2 days! All we got was pouring rain. Finally, on the second day, as the rain stopped we made a bonfire and let Mia perform there. It was magical!