Firm to make film of 2002 Bali bombings

Firm to make film of 2002 Bali bombings

Agence France-Press, Jimbaran, Bali

An Australian company is in Indonesia's Bali island preparing to
make a film about the devastating 2002 bombings there, as the
resort island recovers from a second series of deadly blasts.

Mark Parthezius, a 27-year Australian from Perth, told AFP he
may play the role of a member of the Australian Federal Police in
the film being made by Golden Globe.

"At the moment, the company is doing the castings for the
characters. Filming of the movie is due to start in a week both
in Bali and Java," he said late Saturday.

Golden Globe officials in Bali declined to make any comment
about the film.

Australian police, and forensic experts in particular, played
a crucial role in helping to catch some key suspects in the
nightclub bombings which killed 202 people including 88
Australians in October 2002.

Australia has also sent police to help investigate the suicide
blasts in crowded restaurants on Oct. 1 which killed 20 people
plus the three bombers.

Parthezius said the movie was based on true events and would
cover the period before the explosions, the attacks and the hunt
for the militants from the perspective of the Australian police.

"Most of it covers the events after the bomb, the hunt for the
culprits and subsequently their arrests," he said.

Indonesia convicted more than 30 people for the first Bali
blasts and three are on death row. Both attacks in Bali and a
series of other deadly blasts are blamed on the Islamic extremist
group Jamaah Islamiyah.

Parthezius, who has lived in Bali for the past four years as a
construction consultant, said he had read the script of the movie
and it was "positive without glorification or gore."

Fifteen Indonesians, four Australians and a Japanese died in
the Oct. 1 attacks, plus the three bombers.

Parthezius was among some 150 surfers who gathered at Jimbaran
beach, where two of the bombs went off, for a special
commemoration on Saturday a week after the blasts.

The surfers from Australia, New Zealand, Brazil paddled out to
sea on their boards to form a big circle. They observed a
minute's silence and then dipped flowers into the sea.

Some foreigners living in Bali reacted positively to the movie
project.

"It is a good way of telling people what happened," said
Australian Sammy Gosling, 24. "I don't think it will have any
negative impact. It is a story that needs to be told."