About Beff

BEFF started in 2011 as a “passion project” amongst friends who wanted to create a versatile platform where local stories and voices could be heard. Driven by a collective vision – founded on the belief in the power of the storyteller to uplift and inspire change – we have continued to draw on our individual strengths and networks to grow BEFF. With the work of foundational programme development, building networks and shaping partnerships in place, we are now turning our attention to enhancing the delivery of impacts rather than any further escalation in size.

BEFF is – by design – a small project, powered almost entirely by volunteers and made possible by the financial and in-kind contributions of our partners and supporters. That said, we have attracted a sizeable collective of filmmakers, musicians, conservation and indigenous organisations, academics, government partners, local businesses and passionate individuals who converge each year to mount our three thematic programmes.

Since 2011, BEFF has grown into a yearly “coming-together” that connects rural with urban communities, amateur with professional filmmakers, environmentalists with local businesses, and where boundaries of religion, ethnicity, class and partisanship dissolve amongst a community of friends. It has been – and still is – a process of co-creation and reciprocity made possible because people from all walks of life come together for a few moments each year to do something we enjoy together.

Borneo Eco Film Festival is an annual non-profit event celebrating Borneo’s biocultural diversity through showcasing environmental films and nurturing local community filmmaking.

We remain faithful to a focus on exploring the interactions between culture and nature, both shaped by history and yet so seminal in defining our future trajectory.

We mount three programmes each year: Environmental Cinema, Publika and Suara Community Filmmaking. All of our activities come from a process of co-creation and reciprocity made possible because people from all walks of life come together each year to do something we enjoy together. All of our activities are presented for free.

THE BORNEO ECO FILM FESTIVAL is powered by a team of professionals from the fields of conservation, community development, entrepreneurship, tourism, and the creative industries of film, writing and media. Driven by passion, the team works voluntarily to raise funds, nurture partnerships, engage communities, curate programmes that breathe life into BEFF each year.