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."