Support "Sound Guardians" Short Documentary Film

As Jakarta sinks and sea levels rise, Indonesia is moving its capital to Borneo. It’s building a futuristic new city named Nusantara in the middle of a forest, on the traditional land of the indigenous Balik people.

️ "Sound Guardians" is a short documentary film that tells the story of Abidin, a Balik elder, who is documenting his forest’s soundscape with the help of scientists to preserve ancestral knowledge – before it’s too late.

Stories about frontline communities confronting impending climate change are not only urgent – they’re becoming universal. Hundreds of millions of people face displacement from rising seas, from Asian megacities to tiny Alaskan villages. Our film will be the first-of-its-kind to cover the world’s largest-scale climate relocation experiment, exploring big questions such as, what does it mean to be displaced in your own home? And how can listening to our world’s sounds help protect what matters most to us?

We began working on this film in late 2023, and since then have raised $19,000 to fund production and early post-production from renowned journalism and academic institutions: the American Institute for Indonesian Studies, the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, and the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism. We’ve also secured distribution commitments from Scientific American Magazine and Indonesian digital magazine Project Multatuli. Our plan is to submit the film to festivals for a Fall 2025 premiere target, and an online release by December 2025.

We are seeking community support and strategic partners to help us complete post-production for this unique and important work. We need $20,000 more to finance the final home stretch, including editing, sound design, color grading, social media marketing, and festival submission fees.

"Sound Guardians" can be a valuable tool for the Balik to make their voices heard and advocate for their rights in the future capital city. We hope it inspires audiences around the world to protect indigenous lands and reflect on how climate change will alter their own cherished soundscapes. We hope you will join us on this meaningful journey to bring this unique story to life and to audiences worldwide. Thank you!