Faloe Field · Expedition 001
FALOE FIELD
EXPEDITION 001
Western Ghats · Karnataka · India
Ten days in October 2027
[ Exact dates confirmed upon enrollment ]
Faloe Field · Expedition 001
Western Ghats · Karnataka · India
Ten days in October 2027
[ Exact dates confirmed upon enrollment ]
The Expedition
The story told in Chikmagalur goes like this. In the 1600s, a Sufi pilgrim named Baba Budan came home from Mecca through the Yemeni port of Mocha, where coffee was only allowed out roasted so that no one else could grow it. He hid seven raw beans, carried them back to the hills above Chikmagalur, and planted them. Those hills now carry his name, and coffee has grown there ever since.
The estates we’ll film on are private land where the Western Ghats forest meets working farmland. Coffee here grows in the shade of forest trees, which helps explain why so much wildlife still lives among the crops. The people who work this land and the animals around them are both part of the story.
Twelve filmmakers will make one film together about that history and this landscape, working with two leads who know the region well and a professional production crew, from the first idea through the final cut.
© Amoghavarsha
The Leads
Wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, and photographer. Two decades in these forests.
Co-director of Wild Karnataka, India's first 4K blue-chip natural history film, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Winner of two National Film Awards. Art director on Divine Tides, the double Grammy-winning album by Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland. His film Kali contributed directly to the renaming of a tiger reserve. His climate work was presented at the United Nations by two heads of state. Canon India EOS Ambassador.
He knows where the animals are and how to build a story in this landscape.
Filmmaker, producer, and educator with twenty years of documentary and commercial work across five continents.
He directed a Sports Illustrated 3D special, a partnership between Sony Pictures and TIME Inc., and his producing credits include feature films and work for DirecTV and Nissan. At the New York Film Academy, he was Chair of Film Arts, Short Term, running the school’s short-term workshops. He has led field productions in Peru and elsewhere in the Americas, South Africa, and India. Two of his former students directed their countries’ official Oscar submissions: Bruno Mourral for Haiti and Akinola Davies Jr. for the United Kingdom.
He runs the production and the teaching, and he has made films in terrain like this before.
Amoghavarsha knows the territory, and Jonathan runs the production and the teaching.
The Three Phases
01
Virtual Pre-Production · Two Weeks
Two weeks online with both leads and the full group before anyone travels. You’ll develop the story, build shot lists, and research the Baba Budan history, the ecology of shade-grown coffee, and the wildlife of the Western Ghats, so you arrive knowing what you’re making.
02
The Field · Ten Days in October 2027
Of the ten days on the ground, seven or eight are spent filming on the coffee estates and in the landscape around them, and the rest go to orientation and travel. The light, the wildlife, the farmers, and the forest all shape what you shoot. You’ll work alongside a professional crew that includes a director of photography and a sound recordist, but the creative decisions are yours, and so is the work of finding the story in what you capture.
03
Post-Production · Supervised
Editing, color, and sound happen remotely, with scheduled feedback sessions along the way. If you’d rather finish the cut in person, we can set you up at a post-production house in New York, though housing isn’t included.
What You Leave With
A finished film, made with the group.
Footage you shot, to use in your reel and to promote your own work.
The experience of having made something difficult in a difficult place.
The finished film is distributed jointly by Faloe and Indiverse. Every participant is credited on the film and on related content, following industry guidelines.
The Details
$14,500
Expedition 001 is limited to twelve participants. The fee covers accommodation in Chikmagalur, ground transport within India, location access, and the full pre-production and post-production program. International flights and travel to your departure airport are not included.
We can guide you through the visa process, but getting your visa is up to you, so start early.
What we ask of you is commitment to the work and the ability to be in the Western Ghats for ten days in October 2027. Exact dates are confirmed when you enroll.
Enrollment is open, and there’s no application form. We fill the group through individual conversations, so the first step is booking a consultation.