Ghost of The Forest by Asa Films

And where would be their home..?

For Orang Rimba, the forest is the source of life, and it is also their only home.

But once their forest disappears, where do they go?

Around 30,000 hunter-gatherer people have been displaced,

forced adrift in a foreign no man’s land, as palm oil plantations make way into their home.

Is there a hope ?

Asa Films will follow the journey of Orang Rimba to return to their forest.

Will they succeed?

Can they reclaim their tradition and way of life? Or will they find their home permanently changed?

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Country : Indonesia

Duration : 50′

Project Stage : Post Production

Definition : 4K

Tengganai Besemen

As the forest is getting narrower, the Orang Rimba are squeezed out, limiting opportunities to huntfood and conducttheir customary traditions.

“In fact, in accordance to our culture, the area is our customary land,” said Tengganai Besemen, referring to the forest that had been cleared for oil palm plantations and transmigration settlement areas by the government. “The land was cleared without our consent”. Tengganai is advisor to the chief, and as such is high up in the Orang Rimba social structure.

Now in his 60’s, he still scales trees 30m high to collect wild honey, and he and a small group stubbornly hold on to their life in a pocket of forest.

'Our forest is getting narrower,
while people keep multiplying'

Tengganai Besemen

As the forest is getting narrower, the Orang Rimba are squeezed out, limiting opportunities to huntfood and conducttheir customary traditions.

'Our forest is getting narrower,
while people keep multiplying'

Tengganai Besemen

AND WHERE WOULD BE THEIR HOME?

In Sumatra, half of the forest has been destroyed in the past 30 years to make way for oil palm plantations.

These forests are home to the Orang Rimba, a proud hunter – gatherer people.

Numbering 30,000 in central Sumarta, in recent years thousands have been displaced by oil palm companies, forced adrift in a foreign no – man’s land. Considered forest animals by the multinationals and non forest communities alike, they are at the mercy of missionaries and bullies intent on eradicating their way of life. Without their forest homes, this will take just a matter of years. But there is some hope. Whilst the juggernaut of palm oil companies continue to clear Sumatras forest, below their radar a unique collabotation is taking place.

Their mission? To return the Orang Rimba to pockets of their ancestral land. Many will have not lived in the forests for decades, will not have hunted the traditional ways, eaten traditional foods or taken part in traditional forest ceremonies such as burials. Could these forest ghosts return to life and live again., or is it too late? Can the Orang Rimba assimilate back into an old way of life, and will the reality live up to expectation?

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