BUDDING filmmaker Ross Harrison spent six-and-a-half weeks with a rainforest tribe for a documentary.

The 22-year-old funded Sunset Over Selungo from his savings to highlight a battle to save the Borneo rainforest from logging companies.

The resident of Hailey, West Oxfordshire, lived with the tribe, who spoke little English, in August and September last year.

The film is named after the Selungo River and follows life in the jungle for the Penan tribe, which hunts with blowpipes and poison darts.

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He said: “I was with a group for the first couple of days but they left to do other things and I stayed put, living with an old couple called Dennis and Unyang.

“The major difficulty was communication. I didn’t speak any Penan and although I picked up some of the language, it was tricky trying to ask the questions I wanted to. The diet was unusual too, including snake, lizard and porcupine.”

The rainforest has been their home for centuries but only remains in patches due to logging.

Former Magdalen School pupil Mr Harrison, who studied geography at Cambridge University, hopes to gain support to create a new protected area.

He said: “I’ve been interested in documentary filmmaking since I was a teenager, while conservation and rainforests are also a passion of mine. I heard about the Penan tribe at university and it seemed like an interesting story, so it tied my two interests together.

“They have been struggling against deforestation in an amazing rainforest with an interesting landscape that they lived in.

“About four years ago, 18 villages got together and decided they were going to take a stand against the logging companies and make a Penan peace park.

“The idea being it would secure land rights and it would be a way for them to keep their culture. It’s a win-win for most people.”

Mr Harrison was nicknamed ‘Laki Ngaben’ – or ‘photo man’ – by the tribe and then became known as ‘Bajong’, which means tall.

He said: “The most memorable days were those trekking in the forest. We went up a nearby mountain and camped near the top.

“We got up before sunrise, climbed to the highest ridge and watched the mist clearing over the valley as the sun came up.

“That’s the beginning of the film. I’ll never forget the sounds of the wildlife waking up and echoing from the canopy.”

  • The 30-minute film will premiere at Oxford Hub in Turl Street tomorrow at 7pm.

It will be made available for free from Monday at selungo.com


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